I n a role much edgier than his previous turn as the athletic, wholesome, good looking Duke in She's the Man earlier this year, Channing Tatum returns to the big screen as a low-income, foster care rebel in Step Up. The plot, predictably, consists of Tatum getting into trouble, getting sentenced to community service at the scene of his crime — the posh Maryland School of the Arts — and subsequently falling for the cute, rich girl (Jenna Dewan).with a boyfriend in tow.
While most of the acting (save for Six Feet Under vet Rachel Griffiths, but what is she doing here?) leaves a lot to be desired, the dancing isn't half bad. That's thanks, in part, to Dewan's real life resume, which includes dancing on tour with both P.Diddy and Janet Jackson. Cheesy at times (ahem, a "dance-off" moment in a club between the guys and girls, haven't we seen enough of these?), but overall the gambit is distracting enough to suspend our disbelief and go along for the ride with these genetically gifted teen performing arts prodigies.
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!”).
Clichés are ever present throughout the storyline and you don't need to whip out a crystal ball to predict the ending. So, while Step Up will pass the time lightly in that air-conditioned theater, it really never amounts to more than a barely warmed over rehash of teen dance flick moves.
