Save the Last Dance is a 2001 romantic drama film produced by MTV Films, directed by Thomas Carter and released by Paramount Pictures on January 12, 2001. The film stars Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas as a teenage interracial couple in Chicago who work together to help the main character, played by Stiles, train for a dance audition. A direct-to-video sequel, Save the Last Dance 2, was released in 2006.
Plot
As a promising dancer in high school, Sarah Johnson (Julia Stiles) hoped to be admitted to study at Juilliard and invited her mother to attend the audition. Sarah failed in this first attempt, then was horrified to discover that her mother had been involved in a fatal car crash in her haste to arrive at the tryout. Wracked with guilt, Sarah gives up on ballet entirely.
After her mother's death, Sarah moves in with her estranged father (Terry Kinney). He plays the trumpet in a local Chicago jazz band and lives in a predominantly black neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. At her new high school, Wendell Phillips Academy High School, Sarah is one of only a handful of white girls, but is befriended quickly by Chenille (Kerry Washington). Chenille's brother, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), is a promising student with dreams of going to Georgetown Medical School.
Chenille invites Sarah to a dance club called STEPPS, where she has her first experience dancing to hip hop rhythms. Derek dedicates himself to helping her develop her talent, and they practice in abandoned warehouses, school classrooms and anywhere they can find. As they become closer, Derek takes a reluctant Sarah to the Joffrey Ballet and afterwards, Sarah confides in him all about her mother and her dreams of Juilliard. Later, they return to the club and amaze others with their dancing, although Derek also sees his ex-girlfriend, Nikki, and engages in a round of "dirty dancing" with her, temporarily putting off Sarah. Little by little, Derek and Sarah become romantically involved. Having already achieved his dream of being accepted at Georgetown, Derek convinces her that she needs to do what she wants, and to follow her dreams, but she needs to get back into dance shape.
Back at school, Nikki picks a fight with Sarah. Chenille tells Sarah that she didn't approve of the fight but can understand the bitterness since Sarah, a white girl, is seen as stealing one of the few good black men in the school. Because of this, Sarah breaks up with Derek.
Derek also has a friend named Malakai (Fredro Starr) from whom he has become somewhat estranged. After a drive-by at the basketball court, Malakai wants payback, and needs help. Derek is torn over repaying his friend's past loyalty at the risk of his own college plans.
Scenes of Sarah's audition for Juilliard, in which Derek arrives at a crucial moment to offer encouragement, alternate with scenes of Malakai's shoot-out, in which friends are killed by a rival gang and Malakai is arrested. The film closes as Derek, Sarah, Chenille and their friends join at STEPPS to celebrate Sarah's successful audition.
Cast
Earnings and awards
The film was, according to Clint Eastwood, "a surprise success" in theaters especially with the teenage female audience[citation needed], and is regarded as having two of the best breakthrough performances for its leading actors, Stiles, and especially Thomas.[citation needed] It was a financial success as well, with box-office earnings of $91,057,006 in the US alone and more than $130 million mark worldwide.[1]
Save the Last Dance was also successful at a number of movie awards, most notably:
- The 2001 MTV Movie Awards, winning in the category "Best Kiss" for Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas, who also won "Breakthrough Male Performance"; and being nominated for "Best Female Performance" for Julia Stiles and "Best Dance Sequence" for a scene in the hip hop club
- The 2001 Teen Choice Awards, winning in the categories "Film - Choice Actress" for Julia Stiles, "Film - Choice Breakout Performance" for Kerry Washington and "Film - Choice Fight Scene" for Julia Stiles and Bianca Lawson; and being nominated as best "Film - Choice Drama"
- The 2001 Young Hollywood Awards, winning in the category "Standout Performance - Male" for Sean Patrick Thomas
- It was also nominated for the 2002 Black Reel Awards in the category "Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress" for Kerry Washington and the 2002 Golden Reel Awards in the category "Best Sound Editing - Music, Musical Feature Film" for the music editor Michael T. Ryan.
Despite these awards, the movie was not well received by critics. Rotten Tomatoes' rating assesses the film as "Rotten," with 47 of 92 reviewers panning the film, and summarizes the critical consensus as "This teen romance flick feels like a predictable rehashing of other movies."[2] Even the reviews marked "fresh" are hardly enthusiastic, with remarks such as, "Look elsewhere for reality or good drama. Look here, however, if you're in the mood for a good heaping of fantasy and some fun"; "a decent, well-put-together romantic drama to hold hands to on the weekend"; and "A sometimes predictable, but mostly enjoyable tale." Salon's reviewer called the film "a bad, friendly, enjoyable movie," observing that "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."[3]
Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on December 19, 2000 by Hollywood Records. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
See also
References
External links
