An intelligent feel-good movie.

Rating: Null/10 (9 November 2002)

I was adamantly opposed to watching this movie when some friends suggested it one night, as I am against almost everything MTV-related. I wound up going out with half the group, coming back about two-thirds of the way into the movie, and liking what I was seeing so much that I agreed to stay and watch when my group insisted on the movie being rewound and so they could watch from the beginning.
Save the Last Dance is one of the better-portrayed movies of high school life; the characters are realistic--nice at times, malicious little bastards at others--the protagonists included, not just the antagonists. Dangers of an inner-city schools are acknowledged, not cheesily dramatized. The interracial relationship between Sara and Derek is met with tension, instead of the usual "minorities must conform to the whites!" crap that Hollywood consistently pulls. The couple is continually forced to face with the very real problems of two different ethnic backgrounds being together.
This movie is far more intelligent than most high school-based settings, yet at the same time, it's definitely a feel-good movie, the type you watch when you simply want to have a good time and know you'll be in a good mood when the movie ends. Sara's interaction with Derek during their dance practices are amusing, the music is beautiful and has a good beat (ESPECIALLY Sara's second audition piece, I think it's the theme to StLD)and the dancing is pleasing to the eye. Definitely not the greatest movie I've ever seen, but better than good and a welcome change from the usual insipid high school life movies.