Step Up (2006)
Directed by Anne Fletcher
Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.
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9 films that influenced Step Up
What critics say influenced Step Up
Sadly, the concept of the hip, tough guy with a troubled past who picked up his moves from the street teaching the pristine, prissy girl to loosen up and feel the music is such a tired premise, it's a drag to even have to mention other, better films like 2001's Save the Last Dance, wherein Julia Stiles used streets beats to dance her way into a Julliard audition, or even Dirty Dancing, which had way more memorable lines (“Nobody puts baby in the corner!”).
As far as “Save the Last Dance” / “Center Stage” / “Dirty Dancing”/”Fame”/ “Footloose”/etc.
Skip it: "Step Up" is so derivative of films like "Dirty Dancing," "Save the Last Dance" and more that it essentially comes pre-choreographed by other movies.
"Step Up" lacks the passion for dance found in the great films of the genre (the entire Astaire-Rogers canon), the kinda-great ("Dirty Dancing," "Footloose") and even the guiltily enjoyable ("Flashdance").
We've seen all this before in Dirty Dancing , Take the Lead , and a zillion other dance movies.
If that sounds way too familiar, it’s because writer Duane Adler has barely waited five years to recycle his screenplay for Save the Last Dance, already an ersatz knockoff of Fame (1980).
The way John Travolta moves like silver mercury in "Saturday Night Fever," with the sparkly-eyed confidence that he owns the disco floor.
Think of the way Gene Kelly clearly loves pirouetting through puddles as he's "Singin' in the Rain" about being in love-love-love.
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Duane Adler co-wrote Save the Last Dance, in which Julia Stiles learnt to dance like a black girl from her boyfriend, played by Sean Patrick Thomas.
Assisting her in that task is Duane Adler (“Save the Last Dance”) and Melissa Rosenberg, whose script is so rote, it's difficult not to watch this movie wondering how a film about taking risks could be so unwilling to take a few of its own.
Sadly, the concept of the hip, tough guy with a troubled past who picked up his moves from the street teaching the pristine, prissy girl to loosen up and feel the music is such a tired premise, it's a drag to even have to mention other, better films like 2001's Save the Last Dance, wherein Julia Stiles used streets beats to dance her way into a Julliard audition, or even Dirty Dancing, which had way more memorable lines (“Nobody puts baby in the corner!”).
It's no accident that the credits for the movie are a Who's Who of dance movie alumni: Director Anne Fletcher choreographed "Bring It On"; screenwriter Duane Adler penned "Save The Last Dance"; and the movie was photographed by Michael Seresin, who shot "Fame."
That’s more than we can say for the script, which was co-written by Duane Adler — who also wrote “Save the Last Dance,” yet another film that “Step Up” so obviously resembles — and Melissa Rosenberg.
If she does her due diligence in this regard, screenwriters Duane Adler (2001's " Save the Last Dance ") and Melissa Rosenberg (who would go on to adapt the " Twilight " series) are responsible for mucking things up with a script that couldn't be more predictable and derivative if it tried.
Still, it's not the worst recent example of such material (that would be 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights").
In the mid-2000s, dance movies became all the rage in Hollywood, boosted by the surprising box office performance of 2003's "Honey" and the out-of-nowhere success of 2004's "You Got Served."
In the mid-2000s, dance movies became all the rage in Hollywood, boosted by the surprising box office performance of 2003's "Honey" and the out-of-nowhere success of 2004's "You Got Served."
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Trying to blend a Big Show finale with a violent climax cribbed from "Boyz n the Hood," "Step Up" falls completely apart, draining the natural vibrancy of dancing by playing the ending so severely, trying to motivate characters who don't require such a drastic shove.