Pluskylang Great Film overall

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

FTo1 I won't give it an awful outright. The premise is misdirected. There aren't any surprises. The writing is very sophomoric. The character development is nonexistent on the whole. There are a few glimmers of hope which fade quickly.That being said there are actually some very good moments in this film. Those are because of the actors. Lucas Till is an underrated actor. The guy does the best he can with the character he was given. Josh Duhamel gives a pretty good performance as well considering the script, yet again. Laura Dern, is a very underrated actress. She has a subtlety that is wasted in this film.If you watch it because of certain actors, as did I, you probably won't think it is just completely terrible. It's not a complete waste of time, but dang near it.

nammage My rating 5/10 is for some minor scenes throughout and mainly a technical rating.This was not a good movie. I felt like I was watching a Hallmark film with Step Up thrown in. Okay, this teenage boy who is a DJ 99% of the time and a 17 year old 1% of the time. He comes from a dysfunctional family. A mother who never wanted him (apparently) but quit drugs to take care of him but apparently she couldn't do that right because the guy takes care of himself yet he's a drug addict (since 12) and gets into a lot of trouble. So, he has a drug overdose and is sent to live with his father who actually comes off as this good guy but who left him and his mom after he was born, and you never really learn why.So the kid has to go to a counselor per court orders who is more screwed up than he is, and he meets a girl from a screwed up family because her older brother died in Iraq (we never learn anything about her own father, and where he is) but that's the norm in this highly diverse small town in North Dakota that everyone has lost everyone but they don't deal with the loss they just bury it.I'm sorry but I live in a small town of almost 7,000 people. So small that the nearest movie theater is in the next state up. We honor our dead. Whether they fought in a war, or not. I'm not saying that it's not possible for an entire town to all hold in their baggage collectively...well, maybe I am. It just seems so fictionalized for this film because of all the happy dancing going on! There was more dancing in this film than I thought there would be. It was more of a character in of itself than all the other things combined.Okay, the kid has parental issues which never seem to be resolved. He's the main character, and it felt like he was a third character in this film. His girlfriend, her family, her dead brother and his best friend (the counselor) actually seem to be the main focus of the film. Well, that and all the "dancing".There was just so many arcs in this film that only one of them gets resolved: the girlfriend's baggage (and by-way the counselor's), and cheesily I might add. What about the main character?!?!The kid gets beat up a couple of times by this jock and his friends but it's okay because the kid lost his own parents when he was little. That story: not resolved.Other cheesy things like: you can't watch a war film because people from this tiny town have lost people in a war and it's just too emotional. Well, if that's the message then don't watch this movie, that's all they talk about.This movie went nowhere. So bad.-Nam

Kevin Lea Davies Proving Hollywood is will to sell out war vets for ticket sales.I don't really know how to classify this film under any one particular genre. I guess it's more or less a teen-romance, but it has elements of other emotion based films. Anti-war stance, coming of age, bad boy turns good, dance off, and the classic redemption tale are all part of this jumbled mess. It's not great... yeah... it's just not very good either.Outside of the thematic issues, the characters are pretty awful. The main couple aren't really to be admired in this film. I found the young heart-throb to be a pretty awful person. I get that he has had a rough life, but a 18 year old NY DJ with drug issues and a whiny personality isn't someone who I felt any apathy for. His girlfriend isn't much better, and her acting skills were pretty off. She couldn't look a single person in the eye the whole film, which really throws off any of the argumentative scenes she's involved with. There is a scene where they are both hurling "WHO'S GOT THE HARDER LIFE," moments which is really just painful to watch. Josh Duhamel isn't half bad, as the PTSD recovering soldier returned home to council underprivileged kids. He's the only believable character.There is a massive problem with this film, as anyone who watched it through till the end will know. It has possibly the most redundant ending of any film I've seen. SPOILERS HERE:Outside of the relationship that is formed between the two main characters, they may have changed (SLIGHTLY) as individuals, but what about their real problems? You might think they have come to accept the death of a loved one, but what about the boy's relationship with his father and mother? The daughter's mentally ill mother, and her deepening depression? His drug addiction? It leaves all of these huge problems still hanging at the end. I know... movies don't have to summarize all the problems and should leave some questions at the end, but those are for IDEA films, and this is most definitely not one of those.Anyways, I rated it pretty low for it's use of war vets in a dance off, for WAY MORE BEATS HEADPHONES SHOTS THAN ARE NECESSARY (I don't know a single DJ who uses those, buy some freaking marshals man), and the constant references to Platoon. Which is a much better film. You're better off watching that.3/10

David Ferguson Greetings again from the darkness. It's a coming of age film. Nope, it's small town Americana film. Wait … it's a high school dance film. Hold on, it's an anti-war film. Sorry about that, it's a film about families struggling with grief. Not that a film has to be any one type – the best rarely are – but writer Oscar Orlando Torres and first time director Daniel Duron are all over the place with this one.Josh (Lucas Til, Havoc from the X-Men films) is a troubled young man with dazzling DJ skills beloved in the NYC club scene. An unfortunate turn leads to his mother (Maria Bello) and a Judge banishing him to live with his long lost father (Tom Everett Scott) in a small, idyllic place that could be AnyTown USA … or more appropriately, NoPlace USA. Josh is required to go to regular counseling for one year, and of course his therapist (Josh Duhamel) is as unstable as most any patient (as noted by his passion for soccer).As with any new high school student, Josh is quickly befriended by Tony the nerdy little brother of the beautiful dance team captain Mary (Kherington Payne, Fame 2009). Tony is played by Jae Head, who you will remember as the sharp-but-still-goofy little brother in The Blind Side. It's pretty obvious where this is headed when we first see the lame dance routines. In the blink of an eye, Josh's music has elevated the dance team to elite status while he also stumbles into a romantic situation with Mary.We soon learn that this town is hiding something. No, it's not like The Stepford Wives, but in case we can't figure it out on our own, Mary illuminates the War Memorial Tree – filled with military medals awarded to those the town has lost to war. See, the whole town has been touched war casualties, but no one will deal. Laura Dern plays mom to Tony and Mary, but she is so disoriented by grief, that she often thinks her oldest son is still returning home someday.With elements of Footloose and Step Up, the story is continually brought crashing back around us with clips from Platoon – a film Josh so loves that it plays a central role in the film's climax and redemption for all involved. The best parts of the film revolve around grief and pain, but those elements are constantly chopped up with the abbreviated dance contests. Some script doctoring would have helped rescue a film that seems to have too much to say, yet underserves a solid cast (though Til and Payne are too old to play high schoolers).