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Film: Take the Lead [PG-13] 108 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $9.00
When 1st Seen: 4 April 2006 (studio sneak preview)
Where Viewed: UA Meadows 12, Littleton, CO
Review Dedicated to: Bess R. of Chicago, IL
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DVD | soundtrack |
Inspired by the true story of Pierre Dulaine, an NYC ballroom dance instructor who, through his volunteerism and perseverance, worked to expose students in public high schools to the art of ballroom dancing and, in so doing, empower them with skills to change the courses of their lives, this marquee film starring ultra-gentlemen Antonio Banderas in the lead role was on the right path to be a truly awesome film. Unfortunately, whether in an attempt to preserve true real elements and real time lines or whether simply due to less than agreeable choices in the editing room, the resulting film is very uneven. This leads to a Gemini-effect where you flip back and forth continually between loving the film and hating it. At times…
…the races by, and other times it plods along.
…you care about the characters, other times you despise them.
…you adore what Mr. Dulaine is attempting to do, while other times you will doubt his motive and sanity.
…you want the dance routines to last forever, still other times you wish your attention span lasted only 5 seconds before the day-dreaming kicked in.
…the music is lively and fun, and other times it makes you wish you had been born during the age of silent films.
…the kids seem like they are worth saving, and other times they seem like they are hollow shells of real people.
The film starts out with a very cool segment with intertwined views into the lives of four faceless people preparing to go out for a night on the town. Two men, two women, all four with very different styles, but obviously two preparing for a very fancy occasion and two for a standard NYC night club. This study in contrasts provides a foreshadowing for many of the in-your-face, reality checks the film will force you to examine as it proceeds. Later that evening, the lives of two of the four will intersect on the street outside a high school when Pierre Dulaine meets up with Rock (Rob ‘the kid in Finding Forrester’ Brown) who has just taken a golf club to the car of his school’s principal, Ms Augustine James (Alfre Woodard), in retaliation for her rejecting his admission ticket to the school dance. It is this chance encounter that provokes Mr. Dulaine to approach the principal about volunteering to teach ballroom dancing to the kids at the school. On a lark and lacking a paid teacher to cover the afternoon detention for the school’s most derelict students, she falseheartedly accepts his proposition, bets him $5 he won’t be back the next day, and puts him in charge of the detention room now moved to a basement room after the study hall previously was set on fire—it isn’t clear if that act was a product of this particular bunch of students or not. The first day goes so poorly, it seems to be sure that Ms James will win the bet. Yet, Mr. Dulaine is undeterred. In fact the more obstinance he faces from the group, the more he believes they really need him. The cast of miscreant detainees designed, it seemed, to make the detention kids from The Breakfast Club look like Little House on the Prairie Sunday School kids included, of course, Rock, LaRhette (Yaya ‘America's Next Top Model season 3 runner up’ DaCosta), Ramos (Dante ‘The king of the Lost Boys, Rufio, from the film Hook all grown up and now 31 years old’ Bosco), Sasha (Jenna Dewan), Monster (Brandon Andrews), Big Girl (Shawand McKenzie), Danjou (Elijah Kelley), Kurd (Jonathan ‘Mean Girls’ Mallen), Egypt (Jasika Nicole), Eddie (Marcus T. ‘Roll Bounce’ Paulk), and Caitlin (Lauren ‘Paige Michalchuk from “DeGrassi: The Next Generation”’ Collins) as the uptown cotillion girl that begs to join the detention class where she feels “at home”. One of the problems with a cast this large is that, certainly, some are going to fall through the cracks, and about whom we will learn almost nothing. This forces the story to focus mostly on the lives of Rock and LaRhette both of whom had older brothers killed in gang activity and both of whom lead lives on the edge of day-to-day survival due to severe and distressing economic hardship in their ‘homes’. Beyond these two, we really don’t get to know the others very well beside clichés and some tiny scenes like one where Kurd shows his sensitive side when he drops by Mr. Dulaine’s home unannounced to ask for advice on what to do for his hidden feelings for Big Girl. We don’t know much about why Ramos has a huge chip on his shoulder and thinks he is God’s gift to the world when really he is one of the most annoying and obnoxious kids in the group. The explanation for Caitlin’s desire to be in the class which the kids all suspect is for purposes of being able to ‘slum’ and tell her friends about it was largely skirted, but her presence at the school seemed very odd and unnecessary. Through it all, it is nearly easier to adopt the position of naysayer Math teacher Mr. Temple who takes the principal to task in front of the school board regarding the school’s participation in this frivolous program and say, “What does this ballroom dancing have to do with anything in these kids’ lives?”
Mid-way, things take a turn that leads to some promise. The kids discover that there are underlayers in the beats of the old music of Pierre Dulaine and their new urban pop/rap music and blend them together to make a new type of music and then follow this with dance styles that incorporate technical ballroom style with their new urban dance moves. The result is exciting and dramatic—in fact, it may be what brings a lot of people to the theatres to see the film based on the way they talk about it in the previews and advertising campaigns. Unfortunately, we really don’t get to see much of what this ‘new’ dance style means or what its rules are, etc. The film culminates when the detention class appears at a ballroom dancing competition that will truly leave you wondering “what just happened?”. Seriously, I have no idea. For a while it looked like a ballroom dance competition, and then things just went astray. The ending, therefore, left me feeling unfulfilled, and the 4.2 seconds to read 5 lines of text on the screen that explained how many students Pierre Dulaine helped over the years of the implementation of his program at schools all over New York City did not help. Faster editing, fewer characters with more depth, and an ending with an outcome all would have helped to improve this movie. Director, Liz Friedlander, and writer, Dianne Houston were on the brink of creating another dance movie for the ages ie. Flashdance or Fame, and, instead, have delivered a film based on an inspirational concept and individual in Pierre Dulaine, but with a resulting film that diverged too much in too many directions without proper closure.
…the races by, and other times it plods along.
…you care about the characters, other times you despise them.
…you adore what Mr. Dulaine is attempting to do, while other times you will doubt his motive and sanity.
…you want the dance routines to last forever, still other times you wish your attention span lasted only 5 seconds before the day-dreaming kicked in.
…the music is lively and fun, and other times it makes you wish you had been born during the age of silent films.
…the kids seem like they are worth saving, and other times they seem like they are hollow shells of real people.
The film starts out with a very cool segment with intertwined views into the lives of four faceless people preparing to go out for a night on the town. Two men, two women, all four with very different styles, but obviously two preparing for a very fancy occasion and two for a standard NYC night club. This study in contrasts provides a foreshadowing for many of the in-your-face, reality checks the film will force you to examine as it proceeds. Later that evening, the lives of two of the four will intersect on the street outside a high school when Pierre Dulaine meets up with Rock (Rob ‘the kid in Finding Forrester’ Brown) who has just taken a golf club to the car of his school’s principal, Ms Augustine James (Alfre Woodard), in retaliation for her rejecting his admission ticket to the school dance. It is this chance encounter that provokes Mr. Dulaine to approach the principal about volunteering to teach ballroom dancing to the kids at the school. On a lark and lacking a paid teacher to cover the afternoon detention for the school’s most derelict students, she falseheartedly accepts his proposition, bets him $5 he won’t be back the next day, and puts him in charge of the detention room now moved to a basement room after the study hall previously was set on fire—it isn’t clear if that act was a product of this particular bunch of students or not. The first day goes so poorly, it seems to be sure that Ms James will win the bet. Yet, Mr. Dulaine is undeterred. In fact the more obstinance he faces from the group, the more he believes they really need him. The cast of miscreant detainees designed, it seemed, to make the detention kids from The Breakfast Club look like Little House on the Prairie Sunday School kids included, of course, Rock, LaRhette (Yaya ‘America's Next Top Model season 3 runner up’ DaCosta), Ramos (Dante ‘The king of the Lost Boys, Rufio, from the film Hook all grown up and now 31 years old’ Bosco), Sasha (Jenna Dewan), Monster (Brandon Andrews), Big Girl (Shawand McKenzie), Danjou (Elijah Kelley), Kurd (Jonathan ‘Mean Girls’ Mallen), Egypt (Jasika Nicole), Eddie (Marcus T. ‘Roll Bounce’ Paulk), and Caitlin (Lauren ‘Paige Michalchuk from “DeGrassi: The Next Generation”’ Collins) as the uptown cotillion girl that begs to join the detention class where she feels “at home”. One of the problems with a cast this large is that, certainly, some are going to fall through the cracks, and about whom we will learn almost nothing. This forces the story to focus mostly on the lives of Rock and LaRhette both of whom had older brothers killed in gang activity and both of whom lead lives on the edge of day-to-day survival due to severe and distressing economic hardship in their ‘homes’. Beyond these two, we really don’t get to know the others very well beside clichés and some tiny scenes like one where Kurd shows his sensitive side when he drops by Mr. Dulaine’s home unannounced to ask for advice on what to do for his hidden feelings for Big Girl. We don’t know much about why Ramos has a huge chip on his shoulder and thinks he is God’s gift to the world when really he is one of the most annoying and obnoxious kids in the group. The explanation for Caitlin’s desire to be in the class which the kids all suspect is for purposes of being able to ‘slum’ and tell her friends about it was largely skirted, but her presence at the school seemed very odd and unnecessary. Through it all, it is nearly easier to adopt the position of naysayer Math teacher Mr. Temple who takes the principal to task in front of the school board regarding the school’s participation in this frivolous program and say, “What does this ballroom dancing have to do with anything in these kids’ lives?”
Mid-way, things take a turn that leads to some promise. The kids discover that there are underlayers in the beats of the old music of Pierre Dulaine and their new urban pop/rap music and blend them together to make a new type of music and then follow this with dance styles that incorporate technical ballroom style with their new urban dance moves. The result is exciting and dramatic—in fact, it may be what brings a lot of people to the theatres to see the film based on the way they talk about it in the previews and advertising campaigns. Unfortunately, we really don’t get to see much of what this ‘new’ dance style means or what its rules are, etc. The film culminates when the detention class appears at a ballroom dancing competition that will truly leave you wondering “what just happened?”. Seriously, I have no idea. For a while it looked like a ballroom dance competition, and then things just went astray. The ending, therefore, left me feeling unfulfilled, and the 4.2 seconds to read 5 lines of text on the screen that explained how many students Pierre Dulaine helped over the years of the implementation of his program at schools all over New York City did not help. Faster editing, fewer characters with more depth, and an ending with an outcome all would have helped to improve this movie. Director, Liz Friedlander, and writer, Dianne Houston were on the brink of creating another dance movie for the ages ie. Flashdance or Fame, and, instead, have delivered a film based on an inspirational concept and individual in Pierre Dulaine, but with a resulting film that diverged too much in too many directions without proper closure.
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Take The Lead [DVD](2006) DVD
Movies Starring: Antonio Banderas • Alfre Woodard
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