Step Up - Movie Review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Advertising materials tell us all we need to know about Step Up. She's a little bit Fame, and he's a little bit West Side Story. She's an ice queen, while he's a Vanilla Ice clone. We get it. Yet choreographer-turned-director Anne Fletcher does everything short of laying down railroad track and positioning her leads on opposite sides to hammer home the from-different-worlds hook that carries her fleet-footed tween fairy tale.Channing Tatum fills the baggy jeans of street-tough foster kid Tyler - all the truly edgy names must have been taken. Using a baseball cap and blank stare as method tools, the actor aims for the fiery rebellion of James Dean or early Richard Gere but achieves a flatness reserved for James Franco.This watered-down Eminem walks his own 8 Mile until the cops bust him for vandalizing property at the Maryland School of the Arts. Tasked with serving 200 hours of community service, Tyler mouths off to authority (Rachel Griffiths, longing for her Six Feet Under days), romances self-centered dancer Nora (Jenna Dewan), and discovers a career path that might one day lead him out of the ghetto.Fletcher's resume is littered with professional choreography jobs on films like Bring it On and Ice Princess. She pours her creative juice into this film's numerous dance routines, and it's during those moments that Step Up shows flashes of potential. Tatum and Dewan have limited ability as dramatic actors, but each can move to the beat with the best of them.Fletcher desperately needs someone in her cast to - pardon the pun - step up and elevate the film past the stacks of storytelling clichés cranked out by screenwriters Duane Adler and Melissa Rosenberg. Their script half tries, with unfinished results. Days after Tyler arrives on campus, Nora's dance partner conveniently drops out of her senior routine with a temporary injury. Nora's mother frowns on her unyielding dedication to dance, yet pays for her daughter to attend a private arts program. When Step Up reaches beyond the dance floor, exploring a gang grudge that leads to the death of someone close to Tyler, the movie fatally stumbles and never regains its footing.Step up? How 'bout you step off!?

Facts and Figures

Year: 2006

Run time: 104 mins

In Theaters: Friday 11th August 2006

Box Office USA: $65.3M

Budget: $12M

Distributed by: Buena Vista

Production compaines: Touchstone Pictures, Summit Entertainment

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 2.5 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 19%
Fresh: 20 Rotten: 83

IMDB: 6.5 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Anne Fletcher

Producer: Bob Hayward, David Garrett, John Starke

Screenwriter: Duane Adler, Melissa Rosenberg

Starring: Channing Tatum as Tyler Gage, Jenna Dewan as Nora Clark, Damaine Radcliff as Mac Carter, De'Shawn Washington as Skinny Carter, Mario as Miles Darby, Drew Sidora as Lucy Avila, Rachel Griffiths as Director Gordon, Josh Henderson as Brett Dolan, Tim Lacatena as Andrew, Alyson Stoner as Camille, Heavy D as Omar, Deirdre Lovejoy as Nora's Mom / Katherine Clark, Jane Beard as Lena Freeman, Richard Pelzman as Bill Freeman, Carlyncia S. Peck as Mac's Mother (as Carlyncia Peck)

Also starring: David Garrett, John Starke, Duane Adler, Melissa Rosenberg