formulaic but uplifting, with attitude... aaaa'iiiight?? ;-)

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2013)

Nothing in this film is original, you've seen it a dozen times, but this is more than an oddball in the new-school romcom with dance thrown in. This one is more adult, it deals with real issues and it deals with them in a not very glamorous manner ie it doesn't mince it's words. This I like. The music is good, the dancing is good and so is the script. For the life of me I struggle to see Sean Patrick Thomas (SPT) without a feather 'duster' in his hand wearing silky boxers (Cruel Intentions - le Chevalier Raphael Danceny character), which to be fair isn't a crying shame on the mind's eye, but in this he is good; convincing as the ghetto boy who wants out and gets out, and who can dance! Then comes the problem. I don't particularly admire Julia Stiles as an actress, she doesn't have enough range of facial expressions and always looks sort grumpy, blank, and reading off a cheat-sheet, so I just didn't "get" her in this - although I did like her in Ten Things I Hate About You, and she wasn't bad per se it was just that whilst impressed that she clearly did her own dancing, I didn't see passion or feeling and that took the shine off for me. Kerry Washington was notably good as Derek's (SPT) teen-mum sister, and I really liked the quiet understated performance of Terry Kinney, Sara's estranged father. Save the Last Dance balances the emotions in the film well, and in parts it does get a bit emotional as it deals with despair, bereavement, confusion, fear, jealously, anger and loyalty, joy, exuberance, acceptance and a sort of redemption.
People with interest in hip-hop should like the tunes and dancing in this, and there's enough of it, with a ballet fusion, and it's the mix of drama, romance, dance, music and realism that makes this film more than the sum of it's parts, for target-audience-teens or adults. It's not just another teen movie, this has attitude!