Good concept, bad execution. Movie is about this Manhattan ballroom instructor who volunteers his personal time to teach ballroom dancing to some problem NYC high school kids during detention. It's Dangerous Minds meet The Might Ducks meet Mad Hot Ballroom. Pierre Dulaine encounters some initial resistance, but the kids eventually warm up to the lessons. Heck, they even thought up of incorporating their hiphop/breakdance moves with ballroom. For character development, we were shown little snippets of the students' lives - a prostitute mother, an alcoholic father, brothers into illegal drugs, etc.Now these kids can dance, but surely they didn't have the discipline and time to master the ballroom techniques. This doesn't bother Dulaine. He even encourages them to sign up for an upcoming ballroom dancing competition, which his formal students are also joining. Guess who won the event? The hiphop kids did an improvised thrilling three-person tango. Full points for showmanship, but zero from the judges as the rules only allow two dancers. Dulaine's snobbish student won full marks, but she decided to call it a tie because she was so impressed with the "no-talent losers".
In the finale, one of the bad boys take over the sound system, puts on their rock music, and the gang goes crazy on the dancefloor, while the regular folks with their tux and gowns looks on appreciatively. Yeah right, keep on dreaming.The end credits mention that Pierre Dulaine's groundbreaking and inspiring initiative to teach kids the valuable life lessons of self-esteem, respect, and pride through dance led to a city-wide dance program for NYC schools.
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