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Make It Happen

6/10

Stars: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Riley Smith, Tessa Thompson, John Reardon

Director: Darren Grant

A truly average dance movie - though better than most recent offerings in the genre - that combines elements of hip-hop and ballet with a cliched script where all the expected things come to pass.

Lauryn (Winstead), tired of helping at her brother's garage, heads for Chicago where she auditions for the city's school of dance and predictably flops. Getting a job at Ruby's, a (slightly) upmarket bump-and-grind joint with some flashy dance routines, Lauryn starts as a bookkeeper, but is soon strutting her stuff on the dance stage and catching the attention of music director Russ (Smith), who tells her 'You have the potential to go so much further'.

And, when her friend and fellow bump-and-grinder Dana (Thompson) tells her that 'dancing is a window to your soul', Lauryn decides to re-apply to the school - until her brother (Reardon) turns up and sees her at the club.

Never mind, everyone who's been nasty to Lauryn throughout the whole film turns out to be nice in the end. Some of the dancing is quite hot, although not exceptional, while Winstead is cute but little more, leaving Reardon as the most charismatic actor in this pretty ordinary film.

David Quinlan

Canada 2008. UK Distributor: Optimum. Colour.
90 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

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

Review date: 03 Aug 2008