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Movies / On DVD / Save the Last Dance
Save the Last Dance

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Save the Last Dance (2001)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:17

Rotten:13

Average Rating:5.4/10

Consensus: This teen romance flick feels like a predictable rehashing of other movies.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence, sexual content, language and brief drug references

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jan 12, 2001 Wide

Box Office: $90,696,166

Synopsis: Sara's life is devoted to dance -- she wants nothing more than to make it into New York's famous Julliard School. But when tragedy strikes and she loses her mom, her hopes are dashed and she buries... Sara's life is devoted to dance -- she wants nothing more than to make it into New York's famous Julliard School. But when tragedy strikes and she loses her mom, her hopes are dashed and she buries her dreams of ever attending the country's best dance school.

Without her Mom to support her, Sara moves to the tough streets of Chicago's South side to live with her Dad -- a down on his luck jazz musician who she barely knows. Her new school's a totally different world from the small town she grew up in, but Sara's quick comebacks and sassy attitude earn her the quick respect and friendship of straight-talking Chenille. But it's Chenille's brother, Derek, the cool and good-looking star of the school, who grabs Sara's attention. He plays it up tough, but he also has the smarts and a plan to go to medical school.

When Chenille takes Sara to Steppes, the neighborhood hang, she gets her first taste of hip-hop -- and Derek's the one to show her the moves. When they discover they share a passion for dance, they discover that there's something deeper going on -- a passion for each other. But they soon find out the hard way that they must not only overcome their own differences, but the resentment and bad blood of their friends and family. As the school year goes on, the couple finds that their affection and devotion to each other could ultimately threaten Derek's hopes for a better life and Sara's rediscovery of her dance.

Yet against all the odds they overcome the obstacles to their dreams, and discover that ultimately the only person you have to be is...yourself. [More]

Starring: Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Terry Kinney, Fredro Starr

Starring: Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Terry Kinney, Fredro Starr, Kerry Washington, Bianca Lawson

Director: Thomas Carter

Director: Thomas Carter
Producer: Robert W. Cort, David Madden
Screenwriter: Duane Adler, Cheryl Edwards
Composer: Mark Isham
Studio: Paramount Pictures

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 26, 2006

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Reviews for Save the Last Dance

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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A refreshingly friendly view of a romance between people of different pigmentation, an area where more respectable pictures still wimp out.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
03/22/02
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Stiles and Thomas supply what this movie needs most: a heartbeat.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
02/06/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
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It pays knowing respect not only to high school social politics, but also to racial politics among today’s young people.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/12/01
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
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The intent is a feel-good film, sort of an American version of Billy Elliot and I didn't believe a minute of it.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
01/12/01
Glenn Giffin
Glenn Giffin
Denver Post
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Squanders nice performances by Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas by confining them and the supporting cast to cookie-cutter roles and hackneyed inner-city subplots.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
01/12/01
David Germain
David Germain
Associated Press
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The high school repartee has snap, crackle and pop, but the romantic drama is strictly cornflakes that have been left in the milk too long.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
01/12/01
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday
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An admirably heartfelt story with more on its mind than the glory of self-expression.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
01/12/01
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
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Predictable teen-dream drama.

comment Comment
01/12/01
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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Stiles and Thomas are good together, in a warm and fuzzy, as opposed to hot and heavy, sort of way.

comment Comment
01/12/01
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
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This movie would sooner see Derrick help Sara fulfill her Juilliard destiny than acknowledge how hard he worked to get into G-Town. It's profoundly square screen writing.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
01/12/01
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
San Francisco Chronicle
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This skin-deep MTV Films production is more about promoting soundtrack sales than social causes.

comment Comment
01/12/01
Susan Wloszczyna
Susan Wloszczyna
USA Today
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The playing of ballet against hip-hop gets more than a little corny, but the charismatic young performers make the corn work.

comment Comment
01/12/01
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
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Recycles every cliché of the genre to sleep-inducing effect.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
01/12/01
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
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For all its dumb clichés it offers the basic appeal of teen movies: the pleasure of watching kids be kids, acting as they do among themselves instead of how parents and teachers expect them to act.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/12/01
Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor
Salon.com
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The setup promises cliches, but the development is intelligent, the characters are more complicated than we expect, and the ending doesn't tie everything up in a predictable way.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/12/01
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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A spirited, dirty dance between the polished inauthenticity of Hollywood romance-musicals and hip-hop's central tenet: keeping it real.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/12/01
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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It's far from tepid teen fare, thanks largely to the sweet chemistry between up-and-comer Sean Patrick Thomas and leading lady Julia Stiles.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/12/01
Rita Kempley
Rita Kempley
Washington Post
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The film has a lot of surface complication but no attention span; it's a centimeter deep.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/12/01
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
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A teen romance that generates enough honest emotion to play against the predictability of its finish.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/12/01
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
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Stiles and Thomas are engaging young performers.

Full Review Source: Mr. Showbiz | comment Comment
01/11/01
Cody Clark
Cody Clark
Mr. Showbiz
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Latest News for Save the Last Dance

February 13, 2008: Total Recall: It's a Dance Dance Revolution
Audiences have been historically dismissive of all the critical contempt, pushing dozens of fancy-footed extravaganzas to the upper reaches of the box-office charts. For this... More...

July 11, 2007: Mary Elizabeth Winstead Set to "Make It Happen" In Burlesque Flick
If you watched "Live Free or Die Hard" and thought, "Gee, what I'd really like to see is Mary Elizabeth Winstead with less clothing and more dancing," this... More...

August 09, 2006: Critical Consensus: A Brave New "World," A "Step" Down, And No Screenings for "Pulse" and "Zoom"
This week at the movies, we've got Oliver Stone paying tribute to the heroes of 9/11 ("World Trade Center," starring Nicolas Cage); two youngsters trying to start a... More...

August 10, 2005: "The Omen" Scares Up Two Stars
Not long ago we informed you that John Moore ("Flight of the Phoenix") was hired by Fox to helm their remake of "The Omen," and now comes word (from Variety)... More...

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