Complete A-Z list


How She Move

1/10

Stars: Rutina Wesley, Tre Armstrong, Kevin Duhaney, Brennan Gademans, Shawn Desnan, Cle Bennett, Daniel Morrison, Tanisa Scott, Dwain Murphy

Director: Ian Iqbal Rashid

A darkly-photographed hip-hop hoedown that's pretty much all step dancing. High school student Raya (Wesley) is so smart that other teens hate her. And she's also aces at steppin'. No problems there, then? No, Momma don't approve of the physical side of Raya's achievements, besides which she's having trouble with Papa, who's packing his bags because he hasn't mended the floor.

Still, Raya's undaunted. 'I wanna be in your crew,' she tells the local steppin' stallion (Murphy). 'We could win Stepmonster'.

Alas, she blots her copybook with the crew by strutting her own stuff in the middle of a routine, and swops crews - then swops back when she feels like it., 'Looks like you're a lyin'-ass bitch,' she's told. And they're right. But guess who wins Stepmonster? Please!

Nothing is followed through here, in a cliche-ridden script that contributes absolutely nothing to the genre, with photography that does our very dark-skinned anti-heroine no favours at all. At one time, this film was apparently rated the fifth worst of all time on a major Internet site, but it's not that bad. OK, nearly.

David Quinlan

USA 2007. UK Distributor: Paramount. Technicolor.
98 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 30 Mar 2008