Step Up

Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with an up and coming dancer, Nora.

Storyline

In Baltimore, the troublemaker and street dancer Tyler Gage lives with his foster parents in a lower class neighborhood. His best friends are Mac Carter and his little brother Skinny Carter and they used to hang around together, going to parties and stealing cars. After being expelled from a party, the trio breaks in the Maryland School of Arts and commits vandalism, destroying the stage. Tyler is arrested and sentenced to 200 hours of community service in the school and Director Gordon assigns him to help the janitor cleaning the place. One afternoon, the ballet dancer Nora Clark sees Tyler dancing in the parking area and when her partner Andrew has a strain and Tyler offers to help her in the choreography, she accepts the offer; they rehearsal and become close to each other while Tyler becomes friend of the students Miles Darby and Lucy Avila. When Andrew returns, Tyler that is known for quitting everything he starts gives up dancing and leaves Nora alone. After an incident, Tyler ...

User Reviews

You've seen it all – feel-good story of deprived, delinquent kid finding the meaning of life, dedicated effort culminating in an upbeat dance finale, rich-girl-poor-guy routine, and a whole bunch of familiar situations. But, if the dance and music are good, you'll tend to forget the improbable, unlikely, illogical, contrived story and plot. Given the lame script, top choreographer Anne Fletcher's first crack at directing didn't come off too badly, partly because of the wise use of very short scenes. As to the dance routines, with her credentials, you wouldn't expect anything less than good, and the movie does deliver in that department. The stimulating fusion of hip hop and ballet is well synchronized with fusion in the music. While the attention would obviously be on the showcase number that the protagonists are developing, I also like one particular scene at a gig, when the two sidekicks sing on stage while the two leads do their thing on the dance floor. This scene has the beauty of exciting spontaneity not seen elsewhere in the movie.