Save the Last Dance (2001)
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 97
Fresh: 51 | Rotten: 46
This teen romance flick feels like a predictable rehashing of other movies.
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Critic Reviews: 32
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 13
This teen romance flick feels like a predictable rehashing of other movies.
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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 30,393,524
My Rating
Movie Info
In this romantic drama, two teenagers in love struggle to look past their differences. After the unexpected death of her mother, Sarah Johnson (Julia Stiles) moves to Chicago to live with her father. Knowing no one at her new school and not at home in a gritty, inner-city high school, Sarah has trouble adjusting, but she soon becomes friends with Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), who has talent and street smarts but a checkered past. Sarah was an avid student of ballet before her mother's death
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Cast
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Julia Stiles
Sara Johnson -
Sean Patrick Thomas
Derek -
Kerry Washington
Chenille -
Fredro Starr
Malakai -
Terry Kinney
Roy -
Bianca Lawson
Nikki -
Vince Green
Snookie -
Garland Whitt
Kenny -
Elizabeth Oas
Diggy
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Save the Last Dance Trailer & Photos
All Critics (100) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (47) | DVD (20)
As teen melodrama, well, Carter's film is what it is; but for such a mainstream black-consciousness movie, at least it doesn't shy from addressing some touchy issues about masculinity, parenthood, and black attitudes to whites.
Top CriticA refreshingly friendly view of a romance between people of different pigmentation, an area where more respectable pictures still wimp out.
Whatever happened to wanting to dance simply because it's fun?
Stiles and Thomas supply what this movie needs most: a heartbeat.
It pays knowing respect not only to high school social politics, but also to racial politics among today's young people.
The intent is a feel-good film, sort of an American version of Billy Elliot and I didn't believe a minute of it.
Formulaic teen romance with an MTV spin.
Ultimately, this talented twosome [Stiles and Thomas] can only do so much with a script that continually lets them down at about every turn.
Performances throughout are solidly decent.
It's not courageous enough to deviate from the teen movie formula more than a smidgeon.
Sara's got a sense of humor about how very uncool she is, and she proves to be a game girl.
To the film's credit, it tries, and while it never really sings, it does deliver the dance.
Tries to squeeze in a few too many plot elements into too short a time.
Stiles and Thomas redeem this film over and over. And the dancing is fun to watch, too.
Likeable teen romance that overcomes its inevitable predictability thanks to its talented cast and its avoidance of both clichés and syrupy sentimentality.
Carter has given us a pleasant enough, if not especially original film.
There are enough respectable social messages here.
If "Dance" stumbles into a few too many subplots and a couple of cliched characters along the way, it also makes some strong points about contemporary attitudes toward the idea of interracial romances.
Told with a refreshing lack of sensationalism.
Audience Reviews for Save the Last Dance
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