Save the Last Dance (2001)

Directed by Thomas Carter. Starring Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington, Terry Kinney, Fredro Starr, Vince Green, Bianca Lawson, Garland Whitt. [PG-13]

A white suburban ballet dancer (Stiles) loses her mother in a car accident and moves in with her estranged father (Kinney), transferring to an inner-city school in the process, where she becomes involved with a smart black classmate (Thomas), bonding over dance moves that fuse her classical training with hip-hop step sequences. Utterly predictable teen movie right out the gates—including Stiles’ clunky “backstory” montage that introduces her characters in a few broad strokes—without any real surprises (or many clichés untouched) on its way to the pat, pleasing wrap-up. The cast is up to the task and it goes down easy enough, though, so undiscriminating fans of the fused genres (inner-city school drama, dance movie, teen romance, etc.) will probably find it okay enough. Hit soundtrack includes tracks from co-star Fredro Starr, K-Ci & JoJo, Pink, 112, and supergroup Lucy Pearl.

49/100