Possibly the only thing more baffling than a fifth installment in the Step Up franchise is the fact that I’ve somehow, by some sort of miracle, watched each and everyone of them. It’s not like I’m actively awaiting these sequels; heck, I don’t even like the films that much. But even I have to admit that they always manage to get the timing right and release a movie during the lull weeks before the summer blockbusters.
Anywho. I was supposed to pair this movie with a Tagalog romantic flick but I lost my nerve the last minute. Also, movie time was cut short because it was my god daughter’s second birthday pary (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAWN!!!)
Onto the round-up of Trish Sie’s Step Up All In!
Please note that there may be spoilers. Read at your own risk.
THE STORY:
It’s been six months since Sean (Ryan Guzman – Step Up Revolution) and the mob have won the Nike gig. They’ve moved from Miami to Los Angeles since but they’re having a hard time booking projects to pay their bills. When Sean chances upon an ad for a dance crew contest – the prize is a whopping three year contract for a show in Vegas – he sees it as their chance to move up and out of the slumps. The rest of his crew don’t share his view though, and decide to call it quits and head back to Florida.
Destitute and alone, Sean seeks out help from his old friend Moose (Adam G. Sevani – Step Up 3D) who is now working as a full time engineer and lives with long-time girlfriend Camille (Alyson Stoner – Step Up). Not only does Moose hook him up with a part-time job as an aide in his parents’ dance studio, he also manages to wrangle a whole dance crew made up of people he knew from the past, which includes Andie (Briana Evigan – Step Up 2), and they are all salivating at the chance to give up their day jobs for a full time dancing career.
THE GOOD:
- For the first time, I was able to tell which crew would win in a dance battle. I know nothing about dancing but one of my pet peeves from the previous movies is the lack of a clearly defined line that judges who would be the winner in a random dance-off. Here, they really amped it up a notch and made it crystal clear whose ass got whooped.
- Adam G. Sevani!!! I remember being shocked when I first saw him dance, anf after so many movies, I’m still in awe. I loved how he moved during the crew’s auditon piece and I wish that the film makers had instead pivoted the film’s story onto Moose and Camille. After all, they were the ones with the most interesting and realistic angst.
- There was this awesome duet piece on top of a carnival ride set to the music of Bobby Brown . Bobby. Fucking. Brown.
- Izabella Miko who played Alexa was just super pretty! She wore all colors of wigs but managed to make none of them look bad on her! She just has one of those faces that are so familiar, you know? It turns out that she was Cammie from Cayote Ugly!
- The fashion choices of the women in the film. While I don’t look forward to many things when watching this type of movies, I do await the clothing that the girls would be donned in. They always look so effortlessly cool and they don’t look like total sluts even though most of their skin is shown to the world.
THE BAD:
- The gratuitous male nudity. You won’t often hear me complain about pecs ans abs but there was this one scene in that really got me scratching my head. Sean, the lead, was just sitting on a futon without any upper clothing on. The camera stayed on him for a good twenty seconds and he did absolutely nothing. The scene didn’t go anywhere and there was no follow up to that afterwards. Wtf?
- General bad acting from the leads, which I get since they’re dancers not actors. I just wish that the film makers chose to go with the more talented and appealing characters (Moose and Camille) instead of trying to make the good looking people “act”.
- There was this gag involving robot dancers that was cute in the beginning but definitely wore out its welcome by the time they referrenced it the third time.
THE UGLY:
- The romance between Andie and Sean. Good God. After the failed relationships from their own respective storylines set in their own respective movies, you would think that these two characters would learn that ever valuable lesson: do not shit where you eat. I really thought that they would just realize their folly, not end up together and be lifelong friends but alas, Hollywood shit at its best.
- The plot was pretty thin and formulaic but then again you won’t watch a movie like this for the story.
All in all Step Up All In was as generic as it comes. The flimsy plot, if you could even call it one, was salvaged by the incredible dancing. The dance pieces, however, are not enough to distract fromthe fact that the film showcases the two mosy effective ways Hollywood can ruin a movie: giving the meaty role to the talented yet attractive actors and by forcing the romance.
THE VERDICT: 5/10. Good for killing time but definitely not a must see.
*All photos are lifted from the film’s IMDB page.
