Save The Last Dance Dvd [2001]

Amazon.co.uk Review

Save the Last Dance enjoyed a profitable release in early 2001, with box-office earnings that exceeded anyone's expectations. Its performance illustrates the staying power of a formulaic film that avoids the pitfalls and clichés that would otherwise render it forgettable. Since there's nothing new here, you'll appreciate the original quirks in a character-based plot that's just around the corner from Flashdance, and just as familiar. Sara (Julia Stiles) gave up a promising ballet career when her mother was killed while rushing to attend her daughter's crucial audition to Juilliard; Sara blames herself for the accident, and at her new, mostly African-American high school in Chicago, she's uncertain of her future.

Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) has no such doubts; his own future is bright, and his attraction to Sara is immediate; they connect (predictably), and Sara's dormant funk emerges, with Derek's coaching, as she learns hip-hop dancing in a local club. Obligatory subplots are equally routine: Derek's sister (Kerry Washington) is a single mom struggling with her child's absentee father; Derek's best friend (Fredro Starr) feels trapped in his gangster lifestyle; and Sara's once-estranged father (Terry Kinney) is doing his best to correct past mistakes. Within the confines of this standard follow-your-dream drama, director Thomas Carter capitalises on a script that allows these characters to be real, intelligent, and thoughtful about their lives and their futures. It's obvious that Stiles's dancing was intercut with that of a professional double, but that illusion hardly matters when the rest of the film's so earnestly positive and genuine. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Predictable, but well done throughout.......2008-02-03

This film sees Julia Stiles in her normal earlier film role, the talented yet somewhat reserved character who hides either a striking beauty or inner talent that is reluctantly (but eventually stunningly) brought to the fore for all to see.

She plays a young ballet dancer called who's mother dies in a crash going to see her audition which she fails to impress at. She is forced to go and live with her father who is a down-and-out character living in a dingy flat. That said, he does not fit into the normal "drunk" character he appears to be when we first meet him. He is portrayed as someone who has not had much luck in life and wants a second chance.

Stiles character is forced to go to a school where 99% of the students are black coming from tough backgrounds. She is befriended by a girl called Chanelle, and her brother Derek becomes her love interest in the film, a highly intelligent guy who wants to break free from the ghetto lifestyle. With his help she again tries to follow her dream and uses his help to put her life back together.

The film is refreshing in that there is not much of the racism and segregation that you expect when she walks into the school as the only white person (almost). The production was clever in that a girl that is "down" with the culture of the school in the group of friends she enters is also white, and this downplays the differences a little, and allows you as the viewer to accept her into the group more easily.

The characters go into a down-town club, and Sarah learns to dance the street way. This is integrated into a routine she does at the end of the movie which is cleverly choreographed. Some people will see the themes and endings coming a mile away which is predictable in some respects, but it is well-made and well-acted enough to get away with it. It addresses some important themes and is a well put together movie that you can watch again and again.

Brilliant Film.......2007-03-19

I have had this dvd sitting on my shelf for about a year. The other night i decided to watch it and i have to say it is fantastic. The storyline is really true to life with brilliant characters and a great soundtrack. It tells a story of a girl named sara who has a dream of getting into dance school to study ballet. Her mother is killed on the way to sara's audition so she has to go to live with her estranged father in an all black community in a rough area of chicago. She is befriended by a girl named Chenille. Sara quickly falls for Chenille's brother Derek who introduces her to the world of hip hop. They have a good relationship but find that they are constantly trying to justify a white girl/black man relationship. The film also addresses the gangster gun culture with Derek's best friend Malakai trying to gain 'respect' in an east side/west side storyline. I really enjoyed this film and since watching it have watched it again about 5 times. I would definitly recommend it and the fact that Sean Patrick Thomas is HOT doesn't hurt either.

Well worth a fiver.......2006-02-24

It’s a cheesy rip-off of just about every US dance-orientated teen film, cheaply made with some terrible acting, but Julia Styles turns Save the Last Dance into a piece of B-movie magic. The dancing in the latter part of the film is fantastic, to some decent hip hop tracks.

Surprisingly nice.......2006-02-08

To be honest, I didn't expect this film to be anything special but it's surprisingly heartwarming and nice. All the racial stuff going on there is a bit annoying at times (and before you ask, no, I'm not racist). Otherwise, it's a nice love story that also makes you really think about following your dream. All in all, you wouldn't regret watching it but I must say that it's more of a chick flick kind of thing :)

I LOVED IT, BUT * * *.......2005-01-13

"Save the Last Dance" tries to squeeze inner city violence, single parenthood and unresolved guilt feelings into a story about a teenage, ex-ballerina who finds a new energy when she's forced to leave the comfortable white suburbs for a life on the grittier Chicago south side. The result works much better than you might expect.

"... Dance" stumbles into a few too many subplots and a couple of cliched characters along the way. But it also makes some strong points about contemporary attitudes toward interracial romances. In Sydney Poitier's now seemingly quaint "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" the idea of an African-American man dating a white woman still had shock value. But "... Dance" asks us how far have we come, and how much further do we have to go.

The movie begins with Sara (Julia Stiles), an ex-dancer who once dreamed of attending Juilliard. She still grieves over the death of her mother and struggles to make a new home for herself in the slum-like apartment of her estranged dad (Terry Kinney, whose character seems so potentially rich, it's a shame it's not more developed). One of the very few white students in her new school, Sara is immediately out of place, especially after she's defeated in a debate in her English class by the well-read Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). Eventually, the two overcome their differences thanks to their love of dance.

The screenplay mercifully sidesteps the cliché trap of dwelling on Sara's ignorance of hip-hop culture: Clearly, this isn't a film about how the out-of-it white girl learned to conquor the moves. Rather, Sara finds her niche and footing rather quickly instead of turning into a clueless nerd.

Who would believe that Stiles needed rescuing? Her face looks fragile, but her eyes show she has a keen understanding of everything around her. At only 18 years of age, the actress projects insights of someone much older. Stiles is well matched with Thomas, who almost has the presence of a young Sidney Poitier. Also his elastic body is like a young Bobby Brown. Thomas is shorter than Stiles -- another interesting choice by the filmmaker. But the characters seem to be on the same plane intellectually and in terms of their goals: Dedrek has his heart set on attending Georgetown to become a doctor.

One great moment that demolishes a stereotype is when Derek tells Sara of his wanting to become a pediatrician because he likes kids. Sara gingerly asks him if he has any of his own kids. "No!" Derek replies, slightly offended. "Do you?!"

Most of her classmates don't see Sara as a threat, at first. But things change when she and Derek begin to fall in love. Even Derek's sister Chenille (Kerry Washington), who's been Sara's loyal friend up until this point, becomes a bit chilly.

Chenille is bitter about the careless attitudes of so many of the men she's known. She's already had a child with a boyfriend who barely takes the time to drop by and see his son and her now. But Chenille's proud of her brother's achievements and ambitions, and becomes upset that he's attracted to a white woman. In a scathing speech that she will later regret, she lays everything out for Sara, expressing things that a lot of women in her situation may feel but never get to say it. Sara becomes just another white girl who thinks she can come into the 'hood and steal (from the black women) the best man that she finds.

Derek's friends accuse him of "snowflaking" and warn him that it won't last. Alas, we never find out how Sara's dad feels about Sara dating Derek, but she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to introduce the two men. Maybe that's supposed to tell us that there might be a problem. We're left guissing. When Sara tries to discuss with Derek the controversy they've caused she says, "We spend more time defending our relationship than we spend having a relationship." Director Carter approaches Sara and Derek's relationship with uncertainty. It's a smart approach to take in a nation that endorses diversity more readily in public than it does at home.

"Save the Last Dance" has a fair amount of choreography. Stiles and Thomas seem to perform most of their own dances, and they're both pretty good at it (although body double dance pros take over the complicated moves). Unlike various breakdancing extravaganzas of the mid-1980s, this movie doesn't come to a stand still when the music stops playing. Even by taking the dancing out of the film, there'd still be left a well-acted, thought-provoking story. Few musicals can accomplish that.