Make Step...Up Yours

What does it say about the disconnect between the general public and film critics when "Step-Up 2 The Streets," is the number three most popular movie in America, while the Best Picture front runners languish at the bottom of the the top ten, or completely below it? Personally, I don't read too much into this disparity- as it's really just analogous to music. Nobody with anything approaching a refined music sensibility has anything good to say about "Crank Dat Soulja Boy," but for the past few months it's been played constantly, everywhere, by everyone (although, ironically, not even a snippet was included in "Step Up 2.")

Innumerable essays have been written on the curious distance between that which is declared by a certain, classically-informed elite to be "good," and what the people celebrate. Sometimes the two coincide, to be certain, as was the case with the 1997 best picture winner "Titanic," or the 1995 Palme-D'Or recipient and contemporary-crime legend "Pulp Fiction." But more often than not, the public gravitates towards art which is blunt, unpretentious and accessible. We like the semblance of authenticity here in the United States. Even if we're being shilled products and made to feel inadequate in our looks, our love and our life, we'll swallow it so long as it remains quasi-honest and identifiable, playing on universal conflicts and emotions, like, of course, feelings of inadequacy.

That makes it sound as though "Step Up 2" is one long, dumb commercial, and it definitely isn't. There was less conspicuous product-placement and brand-identification than in "Knocked-Up," even counting the suspicious similarity in the main characters' cell phone "Sidekicks." The film might have lacked a certain nuance, creative storytelling and original cinematography (ripping shamelessly off of the music-videos of featured musicians), but this was at least partially compensated by excellent dance choreography and a strong sense of self-consciousness.

That's right, the makers of "Step Up 2," knew while they were creating the movie that it would be branded with critical disdain, even disgust. That's why they even factored this idea into the fabric of the narrative- the protagonists are all anti-establishment outcasts, shunning classically-trained authorities and their traditions because they have so often faced misunderstanding and rejection. "Fuck the old school," the movie would say, if it were a little-more fierce and confrontational, "They don't get us, and we don't get them."

But because it is a film about (an admittedly precious) 16 year old girl, and because it is designed for those age 13 (or younger, with more liberal parents), the cursing, the sexuality, even the violence are all kept to a laughably unrealistic minimum.

It's the one area where the film film failed most to me, if only because it was so promising. I mean, the subject is at least somewhat interesting- modern dance, and how it differs from the dance of previous times and eras, how it is unique, and how the people at the time relate to it. It's just too bad that the plot was so linear and the characters and their world so underdeveloped.

The concept of a dance competition occurring in "The Streets," i.e. the poorer sections of a city, offers a lot of interesting opportunities to run wild with, such that the film cannot help but at least flirt with them. The popular dance crew are militaristic minorities, evocative of a stereotypical modern gang, willing to use theatrical vandalism and profanity-free graffitti to get their message across. Across town is a school for spoiled purebred sons and daughters, an insulated and dogmatic place buzzing with it's own sense of tense competition and exclusivity. Two sides of the same city, Baltimore, two clashing worlds, manifested by our two main characters and their relationship.

"The Wire," this is not, though. The main characters, an emotionally troubled but strong, beautiful girl and her lovable successful douche-bag suitor, bless their hearts, are so obvious and dull that it's hard to ever take them seriously.

Fortunately, we don't even have to, and we can still have a good time. "Step Up 2," intentionally avoids any originality outside of it's dance routines, and as such, the viewer is forced to focus more intensely on these scenes than any other singular aspect of the film. And even when they falter into the territory of hyperactive spectacle, they are no less kinetic or impressive than a typical movie martial arts battle.

Very few of us in the audience, especially professional critics, can perform physical feats close to those displayed by the dancers in "Step Up 2," and for that the movie need be dully applauded. It is a showcase of a particular kind of talent, one that goes somewhat overlooked in a world where the cinema is such a dominant cultural presence. Which is exactly why "Step Up 2" is so content with deliberately undermining its own medium, and offending the sensibilities of it's most refined followers. People will see and enjoy it regardless of what some older, more informed person thinks, because it does satisfy a certain unsophisticated appetite, like fast-food.

In Sum: The guiltiest of pleasures; a mostly intellectually devoid music-video that goes down easy with alcohol.