Step Up

Review by Guy Davis

I’m usually not one for stereotyping, but it must be said that Step Up is a movie seemingly tailor-made for repeat viewing at slumber parties attended by 11-year-old girls.

To be honest, I’m not 100 per cent sure whether 11-year-old girls even have slumber parties these days. But I can confirm that Step Up is in a similar vein to movies like Save the Last Dance, Centre Stage and Take the Lead.

It’s a harmless, spun-sugar fantasy featuring a sweet but strong leading lady, a tough but sensitive leading man and enough energetic dancing to get you tapping your toes in the cinema.

The tough but sensitive guy is Tyler (Channing Tatum), a ne’er-do-well busted for vandalising the elite Maryland School for Performing Arts.

Sentenced to community service at the school, he’s busting a few street-dance moves in the car park one day when he’s spied by the sweet but strong Nora (Jenna Dewan), a star student looking to make her dreams as a professional dancer come true.

Okay, stop me if you see where this is going. Well, if you couldn’t guess, Nora convinces the gifted but untrained Tyler to act as her partner in the school’s big end-of-year performance.

Okay, now stop me if you see where this is going. Oh, come on, he’s a tough but tender hunk with awesome dance moves, she’s an ambitious hottie who can match him step for step. It’s kinda obvious they’re made for each other.

Still, even if Step Up does go through the motions in terms of its story and its characters, it at least does it with a modicum of energy and good humour. Dewan’s quite the nimble dancer, and Tatum has an engaging, rough-hewn charm that makes him a likeable screen presence.

One can only wonder what Australia’s own Rachel Griffiths is doing here, though, burdened with the lame-duck role of the school’s harsh-but-fair headmistress.

3 out of 5

Step Up
Australian release: 28th September, 2006
Cast: Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan, Rachel Griffiths, Drew Sidora
Director: Anne Fletcher
Website: Click here.