Save the Last Dance
In this hip-hop high-school drama, Julia Stiles (State and Main) plays
the alarmingly vanilla Sarah, an aspiring ballerina living in suburbia. Her
hopes of attending the Juilliard School are dashed when her mom dies in a car
crash and she's forced to move into the big city (a near-ghetto) with her
tenuous father. She's the only white girl at her new school, and though she can
twirl circles around her classmates with her "double-jointed cheerleader shit,"
she's a poky when it comes to R&B. So she persuades Derek (Sean Patrick
Thomas), the resident hottie, to teach her a move or two. He's the only other
student in the godforsaken place who has a shot at college -- if he can stay
free from the pillars of bad influence.
Soon enough the two fall for each other, and platitudes of banter about "white
girls stealing our men" precipitate. The interracial lessons are hollow and
contrived, reducing the issue of "black and white" to a near-cliché. But
the film works when it's on the dance floor. Fatima's choreography, as brought
to the screen by director Thomas Carter, is infectious -- it'll make even those
of you with two left feet want to get out of your seats and bust a move.
-- Tom Meek
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