Movie review: Step Up 2 the Streets

by John P. Meyer

Since I am clearly out of my element in reviewing a film based upon street dancing and the hoodie culture, I went into the show with an open mind and willingness to expand my entertainment horizons.

I needn't have worried about any feelings of disorientation: Step Up 2 the Streets is pretty much a formula "odd girl out, misunderstood misfit makes good by overcoming long odds" story done up in urban street kid couture. It showcases high-energy, hyper-choreographed dance numbers whose acrobatics will remind Jackie Chan fans of some of his more accomplished street-level stunts.

In fact, the Jackie Chan reference is not all that far-fetched: if you consider the jaw-dropping dance routines to be the primary motivation for attending the show (just as the outrageous stunts were the reason many of us enjoyed the Chan films when that gifted martial artist/acrobat was in his prime), then you'll have little reason to complain over the lackluster trappings of plot that serve to string the spectacles together.

Speaking of which... Briana Evigan (daughter of B.J. and the Bear lead Greg Evigan) stars in our drama as Andie, a young woman whose mother died, leaving Andie in the care of her best friend - who happens to be a black single mother living in inner-city Baltimore. Thus, Andie cultivates mostly African American and Hispanic street-kid friends and naturally finds herself involved in the sorts of things that her chums get up to - which in the case of this movie involve taking over subway cars with shocking "in your face" performance pieces.

Mainstream passengers (including matrons and suited-up business folk) on their way to/from work simply don't appreciate their freestyling skills, probably because they (the passengers) peed their pants at the outset thinking that the youths in plastic masks were out to rob or otherwise molest them. When in fact they just wanted to record the whole dance-driven cultural intervention session on video so they could YouTube it.

Alas, mainstream media (represented here by broadcast TV news) report the event as if it were some sort of terrorist takeover, and Andie's foster mom - recognizing her dance crew's signature breaks when she sees them - does not approve, threatening to send poor Andie to her aunt's place in Texas, where they don't have subways. Or even tofu dogs.

Andie's caught between a rock (the Maryland School of the Arts, where she might translate her mad dancing skillz into something more socially acceptable) and a hard place (Texas); she opts for rock, and ends up fostering a bunch of equally-misfit dancer types who decide to form their own crew to take on the reigning champion 410s (Andie's old crew) for street dancing supremacy.

In order to beat the 410s at their own game, Andie's going to need all the help she can get. Of particular utility will be Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman), the hunky younger brother of one of MSA's most distinguished alums and thus an individual capable of providing after-hours access to the school's studio, where the group can hang out and practice. Oh, yeah - Chase himself is an accomplished freestyler, and sees in Andie a young woman with great potential talent. (He also sees - as do we all - her big brown eyes and chronically-bared, sun-bronzed midriff. Hard not to notice, just as it's difficult to hear her sexy, gravelly-voiced delivery and not compare it to that of a young Demi Moore.)

Well, I think you can see where all this is going: a big showdown - or dance-off - between the 410s and the... um... MSA Misfits, we'll call them. While it spends too long in transit, there are plenty of crisply choreographed interludes leading up to the final confrontation - including one highly-amusing prank carried out by the MSAs at the 410 leader's expense (Black Thomas, in the brooding and somewhat sinister role of Tuck).

The climactic dance number occurs at night during a thunderstorm in a downtown parking lot, with the dancers lit by a rank of car headlights as they sweep the water with propellering limbs. Anyone who misses the Gene Kelly reference needs to go back to their film appreciation roots - or start watching TCM.

Ms. Evigan is a 5 '5" dynamo with an athlete's build (though plainly that of a female athlete) and perky good looks. Her screen presence is solid and her acting ability shows promise, which can also be said of Mr. Hoffman, who reportedly served an apprenticeship in the actual streets to learn his break dancing moves. It shows.

Prominent among the supporting players is a kid named Adam G. Sevani (Moose), who starts out in the story as a goofy oddball school chum to Andie and morphs into an amazing dancing maestro, laying down moves that will leave you smiling in wonderment. (A bit heavy on the crotch-grabbing, perhaps, but then that seems to be de rigueur for the genre.)

Sure, the story's trite and true - but just as in good chop socky cinema, it's the choreography that counts - and here it counts for a lot. It'll be interesting to see what director Jon Chu gets up to next.

THE HORROR... THE HORROR: "You're sending me to Texas? I've lost enough already." - Andie to her foster mom

PASS THE MUSTARD: "Tofu dogs are both nutritious and delicious." - Moose