Reviewed by Jo Wood
Stars Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, Adam Sevani, Cassie, Will Kemp, Danielle Polanco,
Christopher Scott, Janelle Cambridge, Luis Rosado | Written by Toni Ann Johnson & Karen Barna
UK certification PG | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 93 minutes | Directed by Jon Chu
It hurts me to say this, it really does, but I loved this movie. Ok, it’s got no plot to speak of. And ok, its script at times might as well have been made of a chunk of brie on a slice of stilton. But I’ve got this chip in my head where to see this kind of street dance - being executed by a cast including some of the best street dancers in the world - makes me euphoric. And this is exactly where 29 year old director Chu has succeeded. Instead of finding actors who could dance a bit – he winkled out the world’s best street dancers from youtube and underground clubs, and hoped they could act a bit. And hats off to him – most of them could.
The story is essentially based around Andie (Evigan), a chick from the rough part of Baltimore where ‘street’ dance originated. Her mum died when she was 16 and unless she manages to stay in school and leaves infamous street crew the 410 her Mum’s best friend, who she lives with, is going to send her to her aunt’s in Texas. Cliché layered on top of wotsit coated cliché, I know. However, on arriving to school, she meets Chase previously unknown Hoffman), originally trained in classical dance, but whose desire leads him straight to the door of ‘illegal’ street dance, and ultimately to Andie. They form their own ‘crew’ (get me - in wid da kids…) formed of all the miss-fits from school, one of whom is Andie’s new best friend, scrawny, goofy Moose (Sevani) - who’s superb dance skill, impeccable comic timing and addictive personality makes the film. Somewhere in there is a lesson about it not being “what you’ got, but how you use what you’ got”, but all I was really after were the supremely choreographed dance routines – and boy, were there plenty of those. At times I had to physically restrain myself from jumping to my feet and cheering.
Lets face it, this movie is for teenagers, so the cheesiness is forgivable, as is the fact there isn’t a plot but a ‘moral’. The cast are ethnically diverse and beautiful, but not so skinny or vacant in the head that you want to slap them.
EXTRAS **** My one big gripe is that the extras are so good they are almost better than the movie. The deleted scenes, had they been kept in (and at only 93 minutes, they easily could have been) would have given the film an extra edge, and the ‘making of’ was one of the most interesting I have seen. It wasn’t about how we created this or that special effect, and here’s James from CGI, lets hear it for Jimmy... It was about a young director finding his feet, shooting something he’s passionate about (we even hear from his parents!) and how the cast related to and therefore worked with more cohesion under a younger director who could relate better to their generation.