Save the Last Dance (2001)

A white midwestern girl moves to Chicago, where her new boyfriend is a black teen from the South Side with a rough, semi-criminal past.

Director:

Thomas Carter

Writers:

Duane Adler (story), Duane Adler (screenplay),

Stars:

Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington

6 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julia Stiles	...	Sara
Sean Patrick Thomas	...	Derek
Kerry Washington	...	Chenille
Fredro Starr	...	Malakai
Terry Kinney	...	Roy
Bianca Lawson	...	Nikki
Vince Green	...	Snookie
Garland Whitt	...	Kenny
Elisabeth Oas	...	Diggy
Artel Great	...	Arvel (as Artel Jarod Walker)
Cory Stewart	...	Lip
Jennifer Anglin	...	Glynn
Dorothy Martin	...	Momma Dean
Kim Tlusty	...	Lindsay
Felicia Fields	...	Woman on Train

Storyline

Sara wants to be a ballerina, but her dreams are cut short by the sudden death of her mother. She moves in with her father, who she has not seen for a long time. He lives on the other side of town, in a predominantly Black neighborhood. She gets transferred to a new school where she is one of the few White students there. She becomes friends with Chenille, and later, falls in love with Chenille's brother, Derek.

---

Plot Keywords:

dance | dancing | ghetto | hip hop | dead mother | 

---

Taglines:

The Only Person You Need To Be Is Yourself.

---

Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content, language and brief drug references

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pasión y baile

Filming Locations:

CTA Rail System, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,162,372 (Italy) (7 September 2001)

Gross:

$2,153,586 (Italy) (14 September 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cort/Madden Productions, MTV Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to an early draft of the script, Sarah lived with her mother in Pennsylvania before moving in with her father in Baltimore. By the time the film was shot, the locations were Lemont, IL and Chicago, respectively.

---

Goofs

During the shooting at the basketball court Derek's elbow pads are visible.

---

Quotes

Derek: Do you get along with your dad? You tight and shit?
Sara: Yeah, we're "tight and shit"; our DNA matches.

---

Connections

Referenced in Let the Church Say, Amen (2004)

---

Soundtracks

"Shake Something"
Written & Performed by Shawty Redd

User Reviews

Trite and poorly written

This movie is a sort of updated Romeo and Juliet- meets- Dirty Dancing, and attempts to take on the complex issues surrounding racism and stereotypes while showcasing some fun dancing. Unfortunately, it fails on every level, thanks to a poor script that allows this movie to lapse into the many stereotypes it was hoping to dispel.

The two leads - Julia Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas - do what they can, but nobody could sell this drivel. The writing is cringe-worthy in many, many spots. At times, even the actors seem to be unable to believe that they're actually require to say some of the things that they say. Everyone in the film besides the leads speaks in the sort of "gansta" talk that seems like a Hollywood/MTV notion of how kids really speak. Then there are the clichés: the teenage mothers, the drive-by shootings, the drug dealers and pretty much everything else you could think of.

Even the dancing - the film's supposed highlight - is poorly shot, so you don't get to see the sequences properly. Stiles insisted on doing all her own ballet, rather than using a body double - an admirable sentiment, perhaps, but someone should've noticed that it made the whole subplot of her being good enough to audition for Julliard rather unbelievable when she's shown stumbling over even simple steps. The dance scenes at the club were so chopped up that the audience is denied even the simple pleasure of some great dance scenes to break up this saccharine, eye-rolling plot.

Save The Last Dance could never have been a truly excellent movie, but it could have at least been fun and entertaining. But the writing was so terrible, it doesn't even achieve this goal.