Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Riley Smith, Tessa Thompson, John Reardon, Ashley Roberts, Julissa Bermudez, Leigh Enns, Karen LeBlanc; Director: Darren Grant; Producers: ; Screenwriters: Duane Adler, Nicole Avril ; Music: Paul Haslinger; Editor: Scoot Richter; Genre: Comedy Drama; Cinematography: David Claessen; Distributor: The Weinstein Company; Location: Illinois, USA; Running Time: 90min.;Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 2.5
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 14 and above
Lauryn Kirk (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) a small-town young woman of 21 years, from Indiana travels to Chicago, looking forward to making her dreams of becoming a professional dancer come true by enrolling at the Chicago School of Music and Dance. She does not pass the audition however; and a second attempt to qualify is unlikely to be given her. Unwilling to return home to her brother Joel, with whom she had worked as book keeper at the garage left to them by their parents who had passed on. Now alone dining at Ruby’s, an exclusive entertainment club, Dana a waitress/dancer (Tessa Thompson) makes her acquaintance, likes her and invites her to stay at her pad. Lauryn is given a job as an accountant in the club. Her new found friends and workmates eventually discover her talent for dancing, and her liking for it. She catches herself irristably moving with the music and moving with the dancers doing ballet, Hip-Hop and mostly the Burlesque. Disc jockey Russ (Riley Smith) encourages and helps her with his music. Then Dana and he prod her to try again to get into the Chicago School of Music and Dance. Brother Joel shows up at one of her club performances. He is upset that she was not at school but in a club dancing. He also feels bad at her leaving him and a failing garage. Lauryn goes straight home. Joel finds her at the garage working on the accounting books.
The movie centers on a young woman who feels that it is about time she should be in pursuit of what she wants in her life. She sets out without making her farewell to anyone, not even her brother. A simple-town young lady does not know anyone outside her home-town nor what to do when things do not go her way. But she is lucky to meet the staff at Ruby’s and have their sympathy and advice. But she has to go through her share of uncertainty and difficulties as she copes and makes decisions. She gets rejected; is envied by rivals, works hard at her dance rehearsals, deals with critics, among others. The movie shows and tells a clear story, a touching one even, although this is a common tale not something exceptional and different. Some frequent movie viewers could find in other films variations to this story. The attraction to this movie, especially for the young viewers, would be the lengthy presentation of the dancing, most of the numbers are brisk, intricate and lively. Mary worked up a good character in Lauryn and was very energetic in her dancing.
What Lauryn learned and how she became a more confident and decisive person came from her various experience. She did not think that she should go back to Chicago and request for another audition; but she is taught never to give up, but be ready to give it another try. Her justifiable earnestness and insistence touched the audition panel and she was given the opportunity to enroll for the course. By her immediate willingness to get back to her small-town and check on the garage’s failing status showed Joel her willingness to make a sacrifice and help him. He saw her generosity, and also that she should be on her way to make her own dreams come true. So he sends her back to Chicago. She was on time and passed the entrance.
As this movie is likely to attract the teenage audience, it should be mentioned that there are some long sequences of dancers in partial nudity performing vigorous and delicate body movements, that CINEMA has given it a V14 rating, allowing young people of 14 years and up to view it..
