Let's get one thing straight. Teen movies are starting to get unbearable. So it is a relief when something like "Save the Last Dance" comes along and offers something up that's just a little off of redundancy. There seems to be a lot going on here, with the main characters dealing with everything from death of loved ones to single parenthood to racial issues. You don't see THAT often in teen movies! But what it really comes down to is DANCE! Julia Stiles plays a former ballet dancer whose dreams are self-imposingly dashed by a tragic event, and the rest of the movie is about her re-chasing her dream in totally different circumstances than what she's used to (mainly: being the only white girl in a rough Chicago all-black neighbourhood). The movie does touch upon a lot of issues, as previously mentioned, but none of them are explored enough to give the film a lot of substance. What does make the film somewhat enjoyable is the dance sequences and the performances. There seems to be a real chemistry between Stiles (who's great in everything she does!) and Sean Patrick Thomas, who is really talented! I've only seen him in supporting roles, but this film shows he can be a leading man. The scene stealer award goes to Kerry Washington, who is so much fun in every one of her scenes. I hope to see a lot more of her in the future. IN A NUTSHELL: It's good to see a teen film that deals with more issues than just prom dates, and it will make you think, but it's not deep enough to be more than just a "dance" movie in the same vain as "Centre Stage" and "Dirty Dancing", culminating in long dance routine by Stiles, and when the routine is over, everything is resolved. Are all the issues REALLY resolved? Only in Hollywood!! Skippy's Rating: 7/10

Unless you like cheesy MTV-style teenage movies of the ilk of Flashdance, this may not be for you. If you do, it's a well-made piece of that easily digestible junk-food genre. For me, it was interesting mostly because of the dancing (fusion of hip-hop and ballet). There's some interesting performances, even if the editing is there to show the dancefloor moves to a perfection that might not have actually been achieved by Julia Stiles. The standard boy-meets-girl, gets-her-to-realise-her-dream-as-a-dancer-stuff is the stuff large buckets of popcorn were made for . . .

Ballet dancer Sara Johnson (Julia Stiles) begs her mother to attend her Julliard School audition. She is heart-broken when her mother dies in a car crash rushing to her audition. She is forced to live with her estranged father Roy (Terry Kinney) in the rough part of Chicago. The school is almost all-black. She befriends teen mom Chenille Reynolds (Kerry Washington) but doesn't get along with her brother Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) ... at first.

It starts as a pretty simple formulaic story offering many clichés of an inner-city neighborhood. Julia Stiles could be a little softer in the beginning but her character is closed off from the tragedy. Her chemistry with Thomas is functional. It's always surprising to rediscover that somebody like Kerry Washington was a major supporting actress. The movie does offer sincere melodramatic turns. I wouldn't call this realism. It's sincere star-crossed lovers in the ghetto.