Even if the picture breaks no new ground, the verve of the actors and their fancy footwork is half the battle.

Rating: 5/10 (9 October 2019)

Watching "Step Up" for the first time almost six years after its surprise sleeper success in theaters, what's most compelling is how such a standard, cliché-happy dance film has spawned three sequels to date (at the time of this writing, "Step Up: Revolution" is days away). Maybe each generation needs its own love stories set in the midst of learning steps and cutting a rug, but this isn't "Dirty Dancing" or even "Footloose." Nevertheless, Channing Tatum (in one of his first leading roles) and Jenna Dewan (his future real-life wife) don't have to falsify the obvious chemistry they share as two opposites divided by class but united in their passion for dance.He plays Tyler Gage, a foolish Baltimore teen living with foster parents who is sentenced to 200 hours of community service after breaking for the arts at the Maryland School and destroying property. She is Nora Clark, a school star pupil who sees Tyler scrubbing floors and takes him under her wing as she prepares for her big recital (she lays down her former partner after hurting herself). Together, the two start to gradually combine the street movements of Tyler with the ballet of Nora while gradually falling for each other.
Anne Fletcher (2009's "The Proposal") made her directorial debut with "Step Up," crediting her with capturing the dance sequences with a cohesive editorial style that doesn't feel the need to cut each half-second to a different angle. Screenwriters Duane Adler (2001's "Save the Last Dance") and Melissa Rosenberg (who would continue to adapt the "Twilight" series) are responsible for mucking things up with a script that couldn't be more predictable and derivative if it was attempted. There's a friend of Tyler's Mac (Damain Radcliff), who feels slight when his buddy passes out playing basketball with him instead of playing Nora.There's the impressive younger brother Skinny (De'Shawn Washington) from Mac, who starts stealing cars with tragic consequences like his sibling. There's Director Gordon (Rachel Griffiths), the school's tough headmaster, who doubts Tyler has it in him to pull through and succeed. And there's Nora's harping mother Katherine (Deirdre Lovejoy), who fears that her daughter is heading for disappointment if she's not focusing on education as much as she's dancing. Any guesses if she's going to end up coming around?
"Step Up" culminates in Nora's big stage performance and the "will-he-or-won-he?" non-suspenseof Tyler showing up in time for her to go out. Of course, by the end, more will be rekindled than just Nora's shot at a university scholarship. Inoffensive but old-hat, anybody with a cursory history of this subgenre of cinema will feel familiar with the film. Still, Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are an attractive pair, and the on-site shooting at Baltimore by Michael Seresin (2003's "The Life of David Gale") supports the story well. By going vintage (you know, with movies from the 70s and 80s), teen audiences could do better, but they could do much worse as well.Even if the picture does not break new ground, half the battle is the verve of the actors and their fancy footwork.