I thought it was a below average film, buoyed by Alba's charming performance.

Rating: 4/10 (27 September 2013)

Jessica Alba is a good hearted young woman, and a talented dancer. She becomes close with her mentor Michael (David Moscow) He becomes a little too close for Alba's liking, and Alba is forced to do things the hard way, and make it on her own, without his help. What is it with dancing themed films? I don't understand the appeal of them. They look cool, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed Step-Up, and its second sequel to a certain extent, but I don't get the infatuation with them. This came out before Step-Up, but it has nowhere near the competency that Step-Up has. It's thoroughly predictable, the dialog is pretty laughable at times, with plenty of tough street talk. It comes across as groan inducing more than anything else. Every time Alba would utter the line "Your flavor is hot!" I would cringe. It wasn't very convincing. That criticism aside, I have to commend Alba for the most part. This film is very mediocre, but it could have been a complete mess if it wasn't for Alba's charming performance. Her genuine character, and determination was very easy to empathize with, and she made this movie a lot easier to digest. It doesn't hurt that she's drop dead gorgeous, either. Mekhi Phifer (Chaz) disappears for too many stretches for my liking. His love story with Alba was underdeveloped, and came across as phony and quite awkward in my opinion. Romeo Miller is extremely annoying as Benny. His gangster act got old quickly. I realize he was just a kid at the time of the release, but kid actors can be quite intolerable. David Moscow plays a great sleaze ball
Final Thoughts: If you insist on watching this. Your viewing experience will be buoyed by Alba's solid performance. It's not a very good movie though, and if you're into the dancing thing, I'd suggest watching Step- Up (the first one)
4.8/10