Save the Last Dance Review

A detailed Summary of Save the Last Dance Review

Julia Stiles hits another homerun with her latest release, Save the Last Dance. It opened in theaters January 2001. Frankly, there aren't many teen movies that don't insult one's intelligence. Often, they're either preachy or total fluff. Save the last Dance is one of the exceptions. Its main characters aren't "dumb kids" as we're all too used to seeing; they are quite the opposite. This film is smart, real, serious and a lot of fun at the same time. Most importantly, it shows a strong and intelligent man and woman, a believable romance, and it has characters who are able to change and grow.

As the film opens, 17-year-old Sara is moving from a white suburb to multicultural Chicago, where she'll live with her estranged father Roy (Terry Kinney). Her mother recently died in a car-accident as she rushed to see her daughter audition for Juilliard. When she didn't see her mother in the audience, she got confused, frustrated, and lost her confidence. Sara is now guilt-ridden, and blames herself for the death of her mother. Her future must look scary to her. How is she going to deal with life in a stran

ge city with a father she doesn't know and a new school environment?

Sara befriends Chenille (Kerry Washington), who turns out to be Derek's sister. Chenille invites her to the hip-hop club "Steppes" where Derek dares Sara to dance -- talk about a fish out of water. Sara tries. She has rhythm, but not the moves to go with it. Derek offers to teach her and soon she can dance without being laughed at.

Predictably, a romance develops between Derek and Sara. Yet this isn't your usual chemistry-based relationship that teens in movies are so prone to have. Rather, the two respect and really like each other. Sara doesn't get totally absorbed in her new relationship. She handles the new romance surprisingly well by setting clear boundaries. Pretty grown-up, I'd say. However, their romance doesn't go over well with most anybody. For Chenille (and many others), there exist two worlds and Sara has invaded the one world she doesn't belong in.

There are fewer dance scenes that one might expect and they aren't done very successfully. If you've seen Center Stage and expect something similar, you will be disap

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Approximate Word count = 748
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Movies

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