Step Up (2006)

I've got an embarrassing weakness for both teen dramas and movies about dancing. Save the Last Dance and Center Stage are examples of how to correctly merge the two -- Step Up is an example of how to get it howlingly wrong.

Here are a couple of free tips on how not to make the same silly errors this film made when producing your own teentastic dance story: 1) hire good dancers, especially in the lead roles. It's not enough to get kids who can keep the beat and do a decent leap -- they have to be graceful and light up when they're performing -- this takes precedence over prettiness. You might want to go to a few Broadway shows and talk to the standouts backstage afterward. 2) hire good actors, especially in the lead roles. No reason at all to hand a role to the mannequin Channing Tatum who mumbled his lines (except his "nooooooo" wail while holding a bleeding pal -- a scene that probably shouldn't have resulted in me giggling). 3) hire good writers. You can't just have the good dancers and/or actors procured in points 1 and 2 stuck in a story that clearly bores them to tears (good example of why this is bad: Rachel Griffiths).

Easy peasy, really.

D