Dance movies made only for the sake of dance, acting be damned!

Rating: 6/10 (23 August 2006)

There was a time, soon after the second World War, when drive-ins numbered in the thousands and film distribution was evolving and a new "teen" market was creating a need for youth oriented product. This spawned a golden age of what came to be known as "B-movies", starring pretty young men and women, who were pretty talentless, full of fun and thin on plot. Step Up is a B-movie in every sense of the word.
Today the movie business is extremely driven by teen dollars. This is why a film like Step Up is made. Perhaps the only reason. i can't imagine someone wanting to make this film for the message it conveys (community service can lead to new relationships?, white boyz can be ballerinas too?). Instead, this movie is exactly what it was designed for. Take a pretty boy who can dance, but really comes off tough (James Dean type) and a sweet young lady from a proper home, and let their worlds collide, then co-mingle. It's the Grease formula, all over again.
Granted, Channing Tatum makes for a good John Travolta replacement, with some hood street cred, but looks that rival Brad Pitt's introduction in "Thelma and Louise". He actually comes across as an adequate dancer and actor, a nice cross between Eminem in "8 Mile" and Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting". Unfortunately, his Sandra Dee isn't ready to make the leap to lead status, as Jenna Dewan's acting certainly needs more work than her dancing. The rest of the cast seems better suited for TV, including an oddly cast Rachel Griffiths (Brenda on "Six Feet Under") whose presence makes you wonder what she did to deserve this.
The script is filled with every cliché under the sun, and just when you thought that something unpredictable might happen, it doesn't. Right from the beginning, when a character's younger brother is introduced, i said to myself, "Please don't make him be the lesson learned". Let's just say that every teen romance and ghetto flick plot line is rehashed to the exact detail, without a whiff of originality.
What this allows the audience to do, is to enjoy the dancing scenes and the booming soundtrack. This may be the first film that would work better as a 90 minute music video, and save us from either uninspired dialogue, or misdelivered dialogue. Sadly, even the dancing doesn't compare to previous dance films like "Center Stage", "You Got Served", or "Honey".
Grade: D+