Save the Last Dance (2001)

To contribute to the guilty romantic comedies series in which my housemate and I have been indulging (see the first two), she suggested Save the Last Dance, which I'd never seen, somehow. After her mother dies in a car accident en route to her ballet audition for Juliard, Sara (Julia Stiles) moves from her small town in Illinois to live with her deadbeat father (Terry Kinney) in Chicago. She attends a high school with a predominantly black population, and is quickly befriended by the awesome Chenille (Kerry Washington) and her brother Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), who take her out clubbing. Seeing her lack of moves, Derek begins personally instructing her to dance hip hop, which of course leads to a romantic relationship.

The other students are not supportive of the couple, with the girls thinking Sara is a white girl out to steal one of the only good black boys at school (Derek is highly motivated and plans to become a doctor when he gets into Georgetown), and the boys believing that she is distracting him from his friends (he has a criminal past and is on the verge of being drawn back into that world by one of his asshole best friends). They endeavor to stay together despite these obstacles, while Sara decides to audition for Juliard again with Derek's help in choreographing a modern dance number.

Julia Stiles is so naturally likable, probably due to her down-to-earth and realistic demeanor, and she does a really good job here as the unmotivated, grief-stricken Sara. I enjoyed Sean Patrick Thomas' and Kerry Washington's performances a lot as well. All of the characters are more layered and subtle than I would usually expect, aided by the more dramatic tone of the film in general (I had assumed this was a more light-hearted "dance movie"). The effects of racism are explored in more nuanced terms, with the idea of the black community self-enforcing a kind of isolation from white people, and both sides feeling out of place or even traitorous in mixed relationships. It's a certain mode of thinking among different ethnicities, and shows the back and forth prejudices between these two groups.

There are a lot of montages, most involving awesome dance numbers, and a fair amount of corniness. But Save the Last Dance is very cute and easy to watch, with a very likable cast and a straightforward look at teenage life in a poorer area of Chicago that tries not to venture into stereotypes (with some success). Definitely a guilty pleasure kind of movie, but not bad. Also, some interesting fashion choices.

3.5/5