Not as bad as it could have been, or as bad as the previews made it seem. Even old white people will like it.
"Take the Lead" Review
Antonio Banderas- Pierre Dulaine
Alfre Woodard- The Principal
Rob Brown- Rock
Yaya DaCosta- Lahrette
John Ortiz- Mr. Temple
Katya Virshilas- Morgan
Dante Basco- Ramos
Laura Benanti- Tina
Jenna Dewan- Sasha
Marcus T. Paulk- Eddie
Lauren Collins- Caitlin
Directed by Liz Friedlander
Screenplay by Dianne Houston
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, language and some violence
Runtime- 108 minutes
Website: http://www.theleadmovie.com/
**Reviewers Note** This reviewer has seen this happen only one other time, watching Clint Eastwood's flick "True Crime" at a theatre on Long Island. Just above the screen, on the curtain, you could see boom microphones, and sometimes the hands of the microphone operators, move back and forth between the actors (this only happened on those mid level close up shots, where two or more characters were in shot talking). How often does something like this happen? It's bizarre.
If you've ever seen "Lean on Me," "Dangerous Minds," "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit," "To Sir, With Love Part II," or any episode of "Welcome Back, Kotter," you've already essentially seen Liz Friedlander's debut feature flick "Take the Lead." We, the very willing audience (we're sitting there watching it, aren't we?) are subjected to the idea that all ignorant, delinquent, inner city urban hip and edgy youth really need to "better" themselves is a strong adult figure to take an interest in them. Once they have someone on their side, the kids can achieve anything. Anything. And so with "Take the Lead," by the end of the movie, we learn that the kids that no ever cared about before Antonio Banderas showed up can ballroom dance. Yes. Ballroom dance. Of course, the kids don't exactly dance in the traditional way. The hip hop kids, after they learn the basic ropes of the cha cha, the waltz, the salsa dance, infuse the atmosphere with a butt load of rap music and jumping around, making the dance numbers their own. Does it all work out in the end, when there's a big city wide contest and the kids show up to compete?
When the flick starts out, there's shifting back and forth between Banderas' Pierre Dulaine getting ready for a dance school showcase (that's his job. Professional dance instructor) and a bunch of inner city high school kids getting ready for their high school dance. Dulaine puts on his funky tux and rides his bike to the showcase. Meanwhile, "Rock" (Rob Brown) is getting ready for the high school dance. He's all gussied up, but then his drunk father barges into the bathroom and barfs all over his new shirt, ruining his ticket to get into the dance. Some stuff happens at the dance showcase, and Rock arrives at the dance (wild dancing abounds inside the gymnasium or whatever the heck it is the dance takes place in) and is denied entrance because the teacher chaperone at the door, Mr. Temple (John Ortiz doing Cornel West acting like Ward Connerly) doesn't believe the ticket Rock has is a real one. The school principal, Alfre Woodard, then appears and tells Rock not to cause any trouble. It goes back to Dulaine, and the showcase is over and he's riding his decked out silver bicycle home. Dulaine comes upon Rock and his two thug buddies (one looks like Usher as Al Bundy) who have challenged Rock to destroy the principal's car with a golf club. The car gets destroyed, the thugs run, and Dulaine saw the whole thing. The next day Dulaine travels back to the high school and wants to talk with the principal. While waiting, Dulaine strikes up a conversation with in trouble student Eddie (Marcus T. Paulk) about how to treat women. Dulaine always stands when a lady is present and opens the door. Eddie doesn't fully understand the point of doing that. Dulaine finally gets to talk with the principal. The principal immediately brushes him off, which then leads to Dulaine asking if it would be okay if he helped out around the school. Some more stuff happens, and Dulaine is given the job and ushered into the bowels of the school to "handle" the kids in permanent detention. He's going to teach the kids how to ballroom dance.
In detention we have the funky Hispanic Asian kid (Dante Basco as Ramos), the hot as all hell Latina (Jenna Dewan as Sasha), the girl we eventually find out has a prostitute mother (Yaya Dacosta as Lahrette), and a whole bunch of other "poor minority kid" types. The fat kid, the fat girl, the white kid who wants to be black, and some others. Rock is there, too. The kids have no interest in learning how to dance (they think the dance moves are lame and the music is old people stuff) and make it difficult for Dulaine to get his program going. When the kids finally settle down and start to listen, they learn the various moves and become better. Mr. Temple, who didn't want to hang around with the detention kids in the first place (he has this thing about not wanting to "waste his time with kids who have no future." He'd much rather grimace and hang out with the dweebs in the math club. What a jerk) becomes enraged that the principal would allow the dance program to continue. And so it basically moves on like that for the rest of the flick. Dancing, dancing, dancing. There are two subplots that kind of work out well. Rock is taking care of his family (his parents went to pieces after Rock's brother was killed) and trying to graduate from school despite the odds. The second subplot involves Lahrette and the shame she feels when "clients" show up at her apartment for "meetings" with Mom. A third subplot involves rich girl Caitlin (Lauen Collins) getting dance lessons for her upcoming cotillion and getting more practice during the permanent detention dance classes. Caitlin is nervous that she won't be able to do the things her family expects her to do during the cotillion. They probably could have made an entire movie out of the subplots, but Friedlander wisely gets on with the story and doesn't hang around with them. This flick is all about the dancing and watching the kids figure it all out.
Banderas is excellent as the dance instructor Dulaine. Whether or not he accurately portrays Dulaine the person (this flick is "inspired" by a true story, after all) is irrelevant. Dulaine is all about being cool and being listened to. And Tony here can dance. Alfre Woodard doesn't have much to do as the principal except give a great speech about why she keeps pictures of dead students on her office wall. John Ortiz is just a pure scumbag (he's also channeling a bit of Jimmy Coburn in "Sister Act 2") and does a decent job with what little he is given to do. Rob Brown's performance as Rock the troubled young man is good enough for an ongoing television show. He manages to brood through the first part of the movie without being pretentious. Yaya DaCosta is acceptable as the daughter of a working prostitute but for some reason just doesn't seem all that emotionally involved. Even when she deals with a potentially very bad thing (rape) it doesn't entirely work. Dante Basco is just annoying as Ramos. You want to punch him in the face (he's doing John Leguizamo without the charm, which is probably the point. It's still annoying, though). The rest of the kids (most aren't given names, or if they are this reviewer can't remember what they are) do good enough to give Banderas something to work with. The big surprise of the flick is Katya Virshilas as Morgan, the star pupil Banderas brings to class to help show the kids just how "sexy" ballroom dancing can be (Virshilas does the leggy blonde thing quite well. Even if she's a total jerk to everyone, damn, she's very… nice in that dress with the slit up the side). The flick really starts to get going when she arrives.
The ending, the last five minutes or so (including the credits) is awful. It's not "Mission to Mars" awful, but just annoying enough to make you question why any of the kids ever learned how to dance in the first place (perhaps Friedlander was going for some kind of "Footloose" montage homage or something). It's supposed to be a "feel good" ending, but all it does is make you, well, not feel good. Bad. And then there's the whole "message" thing. On one hand the movie makes the "Bill Cosby" point that all these kids really need to do is believe in themselves and start working hard (because, you know hard work leads to more money and more respect. Right) and then they'll succeed in life. On the other hand, the flick is a story about the importance of art and music in public schools. As anyone who has paid attention to a school funding question regarding the funding of marching bands, fine arts clubs, and "cultural" activities knows, the first thing that tends to get cut is art. Then music. And then the kids get stupid. Very sad.
So, should you see "Take the Lead"? Yes. It's a good flick. Should you see it right now? Depends on how much you like a dancing Antonio Banderas.
The 411: “Take the Lead” is one of those “feel good” movies about disadvantaged youth and the adults who end up believing in them. It’s a good movie, definitely worth watching. Just don’t expect to see anything “new.” Odds are you’ve already seen it somewhere else.
