Dancin In The Streets

Ever see a movie that was critically flawed and you still couldn't help but like?

Yesterday we went to the picture show. It is something we do often on the weekends. We choose a multi plex and we see two or three movies in a row. With the Academy Awards being tonight we really should have been seeing THERE WILL BE BLOOD or NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. These are just about the only two nominees that are still showing that we haven't seen. I just don't think I can handle it. I have a hard time sitting through movies that are over two hours long - especially if they are heavy and without any glamour. A three hour movie has to at least have one gorgeous man or a diva in it to keep me in my seat. I admit it. I'm shallow in this way. If it doesn't have one of these two things, a movie has to be ninety minutes long or I will go to sleep. So instead we went to see DEFINATELY, MAYBE (hot guy and four divas, light, bright and New York city scenery - a winner!); then we went to see VANTAGE POINT ( about 90 minutes long, lots of action and explosions, the great - and underrated - Dennis Quaid, some guys with faces, some with muscles, Sigourney Weaver - diva! - amazing film making and Forest Whitaker - a winner!). Then, by happy accident, we were able to catch STEP UP 2 THE STREETS, a film I had been waiting and wanting to see.

About 20 minutes into the movie (maybe more) I turned to Pat and said "FINALLY. At last the movie starts). Until that point there had been only one cool dance sequence, one aight dance sequence and a lot of dialogue that my 12 year old neice could have written. Hot guys? Oh, yeah. Hot enough to make the tin pan alley dialogue forgivable? We don't know yet. At that 20 to 30 minute mark, though, the real dancing began - and the teamwork, the commaraderie of misfits that makes this kind of film worthwhile. Ech. Then we went back to more tin pan alley. And what I want to know is who writes this stuff? Who approves this stuff? Clearly, the film has a great director, an phenomenal editor, an out of this world choreographer and some kick freakin ass dancers (many of whom can say lines!). Couldn't they get anyone in there to give them some lines to say?

I cannot begin to tell you how jaw droppingly great the dancing is. If I could learn to dance like this, I would - but that ship has left the dock, been cannoned by pirates and sunk to the bottom. These young kids are stunningly talented and, boy howdy, do they get to business in the most admirable way! It is worth it to sit through the boring scenes, the eye rollingly bad dialogue and everything else that would have made this movie a waste of time just to see them dance. There was, in fact, a moment when I was ready to put on my coat and leave but they started to dance and it made me stay.

Now I'm going to jockey back and forth between saying something complimentary and saying something critical. The man in the photo above is one of the reasons I almost left. His name is Will Kemp and he is one of the great stars of the dance world. I've seen him live in SWAN LAKE and been mesmerized by him. I think he is gorgeous and sexy and I would shell out the bucks to watch him dance. For most of this movie, though, he does an unconvincing job playing the head of this performing arts school. Most of his scenes left me cringing in my seat and saying, out loud in a crowded cinema, "he is TERRIBLE". BUT. It is not his fault. Not entirely. First of all, he is given the most ridiculous dialoge to say; his character is given a ridiculous premise (a ballet star returned to his home town to make the school great and he is so pretentious and unlikeable that he insists on being called Director Collins -- absurd, if you ask me); he has to speak with an American accent and he is one of the Brits who does not do it convincingly and he is given a haircut in the movie that completely undermines the idea that he is the head of a school. It is a really valid point of view: the hairdo is too unkempt and youthful for a man who insists on being a leader, a role model, an educator, to wear. None of it is believable. The irritating thing is that I spent the movie disliking the character and disliking the actor - until the end, when he has a scene in the rain where he does something nice and he smiles and, suddenly, I liked him. THAT was believable, even though his dialogue was terrible. I think that, somewhere in there, this incredibly attractive dancing phenomenon might be a good actor! DAMMIT. I couldn't bring myself to keep disliking him.

Makes me crazy when I have to change my opinion for humanity.

Flawed film, yes. Bad acting, oh yes. Terribly writing, unquestionably.

Loved it? Hell to the yeah.