Save the Last Dance (2001)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

After the death of her mother and some failed auditions to Julliard, a talented young girl is forced to move to her father's. There, she find a new dance style (besides the ballet) in the name of Hip-Hop, which she doesn't know anything about. With the help of some new friends, she begins to learn the new art, but not everyone is as friendly as they appear so new problems begin to find their way into her life. Together with her new boyfriend, she'll have to find a way to overcome her fears and trauma from the past, thus being able to follow her dream.It's an interesting movie which features a big change in a girl's life and what she must do to cope with every-day problems. It's enjoyable and entertaining through its hip-hop beats and dancing but let's you down when it comes to story. The characters, although pretty well described, have the tendency to take radical decisions out of a sudden, without any logic or meaning, just to affect the course of events and generate a bit more drama. The plot is simplistic and predictable, doing nothing to impress or at least raise the bar a bit. It's a good movie overall, especially if you enjoy music and dancing, like I do, otherwise it would be a mediocre movie which can be easily skipped.

Ballet dancer Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles) begs her mother to attend her Julliard School audition. She is heart-broken when her mother dies in a car crash rushing to her audition. She is forced to live with her estranged father Roy (Terry Kinney) in the rough part of Chicago. The school is almost all-black. She befriends teen mom Chenille Reynolds (Kerry Washington) but doesn't get along with her brother Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) ... at first.It starts as a pretty simple formulaic story offering many clichés of an inner-city neighborhood. Julia Stiles could be a little softer in the beginning but her character is closed off from the tragedy. Her chemistry with Thomas is functional. It's always surprising to rediscover that somebody like Kerry Washington was a major supporting actress. The movie does offer sincere melodramatic turns. I wouldn't call this realism. It's sincere star-crossed lovers in the ghetto.

Normally, I try to stay away from movies that are just about dancing. The one exception for this moment is this film, Save the Last Dance. The movie is more than just dancing, it is a human story that explores themes such as passion, family tragedy, and interracial love. I found the latter part interesting because it is relatively uncommon to see in movies and I thought that part in the movie worked very well. As for the dancing, it's not too bad and the choreography is halfway decent. Thomas Carter's film is about a girl named Sara who dreams to be a ballerina are shattered when an unfortunate family tragedy occurs and she is forced to move to the other side of town, where the town is predominantly black. Sara is able to befriend Chenille, whom in turn introduces her to her brother, Derek. Together, Sara and Derek work together to help Sara train for a dance audition for Jubilee. The acting was not too bad. Julia Stiles handled the dramatic part effectively, although I'm not sure if she makes for a talented dancer, especially in hip-hop dance. Sean Patrick Thomas does a solid job as Derek and I really liked Kerry Washington in her role as Chenille. Overall, Save the Last Dance is nowhere close to a great movie, but it does have some entertaining moments. In particular, the dance moments are quite effective, although not perfect. The drama was handled well and I quite liked the beginning of the film the best, although the narrative seems to stumble midway. This is not a bad film though. My Grade: B-

Okay, okay, okay, I know. It's clichéd and predictable, the writing isn't fantastic (in fact, some of the lines are quite embarrassingly corny) and the acting barely squidges above adequate.But...but...but...I friggin' love this movie. For a dance movie, I've seen a lot worse (Havana Nights, anybody?) and for plot-line, it's not the first of it's kind, but it certainly has an edge to it that keeps you interested, and certainly isn't a pitch lower than other, similar films (8 Mile).The music is a stand out part, it's very, very good throughout, and many of the dancing scenes, particularly Sara's final audition and Derek giving her dancing lessons, are very entertaining and fun to watch. I especially love how believably jerky and unsteady Sara is on her feet during Derek's first lesson, and it really gave it some substance as I could totally imagine myself in that situation, feeling really "dorky" and unsure. It definitely gives the viewer the feeling that it's possible to cross racial "red tape" and attempt things they've never tried before.I think, and I know some other reviewers disagree here, that the racial tension of putting a Caucasian girl into a situation where she is the subject of scorn from African-American individuals is refreshing and interesting to watch. While it's appreciated that Blacks have been oppressed and treated unfairly, it's nice to see a film that takes a look at it from another direction, in this day and age, in this culture and in this generation of students. I think it was also given with a grain of salt (I didn't forget that annoying yappy white girlfriend of Sara's who constantly wants to pray and can't comprehend that Sara might date an African-American.) All in all, I recognise that it's not Citizen Kane or Trainspotting or anything, but it is a guilty little pleasure. It's a fun, relaxing and interesting storyline with characters that you can easily care about, stereotypical though they may be. It's not a perfect model, but if you just want to listen to some great music, watch some amazing choreography, and maybe tear up a little bit, this movie's got all the right moves.