Step Up

Reviewed by:
Pete Hammond

Step Up is a by the numbers, teen-dance romance that takes its lead from Save the Last Dance, Dirty Dancing and numerous others that it shamelessly imitates. Let's see, a guy from "the wrong side of the tracks" (Channing Tatum) meets the upper crust dancer (Jenna Dewan), and sparks fly, but not before inevitable complications and class differences nearly torpedo the whole toe-tapping affair. There's not a single moment in this hackneyed film that isn't obvious and predictable. On the plus side, both Tatum and Dewan are promising and do what they can to rise above the clichéd material. As Tatum so aptly says at the end of his first rehearsal, "It's just stiff. This whole thing is stiff and boring."