‘Kickin’ It’ gets lost in time

As no less an etiquette expert than Tony Soprano recently noted, “ ‘Remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation,” meaning that nostalgia for its own sake is an empty exercise. Such is the essential undoing of “Kickin’ It Old Skool,” a witless, mind-numbingly inert comedy about a boy who suffers a break-dancing injury in the 1980s and wakes up from a 20-year coma to find he’s Jamie Kennedy. Many variations on “parachute pants sure were funny” ensue.

The film itself seems lost in a time warp -- even its attitude toward the ‘80s is out of date considering the ongoing revival in music and fashion from that era.

This would actually make Kennedy’s character unexpectedly hip rather than the discarded oddball he is portrayed to be.

Debut feature director Harvey Glazer exhibits no sense of structure or pacing, as the film labors on for far too long.

The final dance contest -- there just had to be a dance-off -- seems interminable, and is shot in such a way as to render it visually incoherent. It’s rare for a film to make a coma seem the preferable option, but by the time it’s over, “Kickin’ It Old Skool” feels rather like it’s been on for 20 years.

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“Kickin’ It Old Skool.” MPAA rating: PG-13 for language, drug use, sexual content and some violence. Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes. In general release.