When it was good it was very very good, when it was bad...

Rating: Null/10 (14 October 2011)

The producers hoped they would give Wormald his "Bacon" break, but unlike Bacon who was a good actor who surprised everyone with his dancing, Warmald is a good dancer who really isn't a very good actor. However, this film could easily become the breakout roles for Julianne Hough and Miles Teller. Julianne Hough often carried the film when her costar couldn't.
The film is a respectful update to the 84 classic, often stealing scenes and dialogue verbatim from the 1984 script. Normally I am critical of such "lazy" writing, but with this film, I couldn't think of anything better to replace them with. So it's forgivable.
The film did bog down frequently at the worst times. The key to the 84 film's success was the "economy of words". Nothing was explained if it could be showed and nothing was shown if it was already explained.
In this film the initial accident was fine, but then became redundant when the reason for the dance laws were later explained to Ren. It is a basic "either / or" choice for the story. Bogging the story down with over explained or over dramatized scenes don't help. The purpose of the destruction in Ren's private dance was lost on me.. The idea was to get out his anger in a creative way, not to trash a warehouse! Why the fight outside the dance was extended was beyond me completely. It was never meant to be a pivotal scene, just a short resolution to the Chuck conflict, a blip to amp up the excitement to the final dance sequence.
Many things about this remake /update worked and others fell completely flat.
As I said initially, this film showcased that Julianne Hough has real acting chops, something even I was skeptical about going in. The real break out from this film will be her not Kenny Wormald.
I believe she and Miles Teller will get a lot of work from this film.