Step Up (2006)
I find it very interesting that this film came out the same year as Take The Lead, which also features Jenna Dewan in a central role. Take The Lead, based on the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom, involves a polished teacher, and one posh student, going to a urban school (where Dewan's character is a student), whence a melding of cultures occurs. In Step Up, Tyler (Channing Tatum) is a kid of the streets, and its style of dance, who ends up doing community service at an elite (though as the film points out, not necessarily rich) school for the arts, where Nora (Dewan) is a student. Again, a melding of cultures occurs. So in one year Dewan is both sides of the coin in films that kind of invert each other, like a film negative.
Of course, that they seem so alike is less of a coincidence when you consider how common this type of storyline is. Just staying in the realm of dance, Save The Last Dance covers fairly similar territory. The film was at its most awkward when it had to remind us of where Tyler was from, make him feel the need to attempt self-sabotage, because that is how we understand characters like this to be. Of course, in the opening scenes, he and his friends were such pests that it does create an empathy deficit. When unfortunate events happen later, I didn't so much feel sad as think "yes, 1+1=2"...you don't steal a gangsta's ride. So yeah, the film is trite and that doesn't allow it to stand out as anything special.
In terms of the dance, there is a strong early scene where Tyler is improvising by his friend's car, giving occasion for Nora to see his skills. After that, the film struggles to impress because so much of it are pieces of rehearsal, not authentic products. The only moment from rehearsal that caught my attention was one moment where Tyler is on the fly translating Nora's traditional ballet moves into his freestyle moves. That was an interesting concept that could have stood being fleshed out. The final sequence doesn't quite manage what the contrasting duet might have done, but it is still an impressive bit of work. And I suppose it should be mentioned that the central pair have great chemistry...the actors did get married after all. So yeah, could be more original, could have more solid dancing sequences, but otherwise a perfectly tolerable film.
C+