Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Micransix Crappy film

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

bob the moo You know what? I'm staying off the message boards on this one because I'm not looking to get into the debate over why this film is so poorly rated on IMDb. It does confuse me to hear those classing it "worst film ever" discussing it as generic and bland, nothing but a version of countless other films – so why, if it is so bland and generic is it in the IMDb bottom 100 at the time of writing? I'll let others say "racism" because I don't think it is that – although I do think that it is perhaps a cultural thing. I've never really understood the whole idea of "krunking" or "stepping" or whatever it is called (whenever us white people know a slang word it immediately changes!) and would struggle not to feel silly if I was to do it. However I do love the b-boy stuff and breaking and there is a fine line between them.Why this culture of impressive dance moves and physical discipline is mocked by the mainstream while cheerleading is seen as an All-American experience I'm not sure – again I'll leave it to the boards to debate whether it is racism or just a cultural thing but it is odd that this film is rather lower than things similar. I say this because I do not see a massively poor film – and trust me, I have seen some massively poor films in my time and I do not see how IMDb users can rate this lower than the significantly worse "You Got Served". Now don't get me wrong because I'm not building myself up to a gushing review full of praise, because this film is not brilliant – it is just not anywhere near as bad as people say, in fact it is OK.The plot is fairly straightforward and generic but it benefits from having a lead character that I cared about in Raya. Her situation is obvious and I won't defend the sweep of the film because it does tread a genre path but it is made better by several things. First and foremost the dance routines are very good. They are not the hyper-edited promo pieces of You Got Served but are presented in small clubs, bare stages and with a clean approach from camera that allows us to see what is happening. I'm not sure why they cannot be appreciated for what they are but I really enjoyed them and found myself exclaiming "wow" involuntarily several times towards the end. OK visually the rest of the film is quite basic, this comes with the budget and it is not "ugly" so much as it is more television standard than cinema.The second selling point is Wesley's turn as Raya. Here we have an actress and a character who is not really the best choice if you are making a genre film. She is smart, doesn't talk street and, to be frank, is very dark skinned. Put it another way – she is not the person I would want to be marketing the film off the back of. However what she can do is emote convincingly and I found her acting chops to be just as good as her moves (which are good). She is charismatic and engaging and she covers for the many clichés surrounding her. Armstrong isn't as good nor did I need Davis and Cole turning up as themselves but these are the type of things that make the film "OK" rather than good.How She Move is not Citizen Kane but it is not the worst film ever made either. Yes it is a genre film and it is weaker than I would like in regards plot and writing but it is still an OK film. The dance moves are impressive and well delivered and Wesley emotes well in delivering a believable and sympathetic character, which made all the difference to me.

Roland E. Zwick "How She Moves" springs to life only when its high-energy, talented cast members are kicking up their heels and strutting their stuff for the camera. Otherwise, this stale strive-suffer-and-succeed story is low on energy, low on originality, and low on anything that might make the movie stand out from the dozens of other, likeminded films that have come before it.Rutina Wesley has modest appeal as the academically gifted inner-city youngster who finds that the best way to raise her private school tuition money is by entering step-dance competitions, but both she and her fellow actors are poorly served by uninspired screen writing and undistinguished direction. As noted earlier, the movie achieves some spark when the performers are up on stage dancing, but such moments are far too few and sadly fleeting.

Movie Gurl This movie was absolutely ghastly! I cannot fathom how this movie made it to production. Nothing against the cast of the movie, of course, this is all the fault of the writing team. You take the old average plot - let's dance our way out of being poor and destitute - or STEP in this case. But this one lacks any semblance of a true plot - or at least one that anyone would care about. With Canadian speaking actors in what is supposed to be an American setting - this film falls very flat. On a positive note, the directing was pretty good and cinematography was pretty decent as well. Looks like the production budget was very generous as well. My only request is that this team leave the writing alone and go find actual screenwriters to help them bring words alive on film. Net result - How she move is How she sucks.

Shamontiel Vaughn Beforehand Notification: I'm sure someone is going to accuse me of playing the race card here, but when I saw the preview for this movie, I was thinking "Finally!" I have yet to see one movie about popular African-influenced dance (be it popular hip hop moves, breaking, or stepping) where the main character was a Black woman. I've seen an excessive amount of movies where a non-Black woman who knew nothing about hip hop comes fresh to the hood and does a mediocre job of it (Breakin, Breakin 2, Save the Last Dance, Step Up), but the Black women in the film are almost nonexistent. That always bothered me considering so much of hip hop, African-influenced dance, and breaking was with Blacks and Latinos in massive amounts in these particular sets and it wasn't always men who performed it, so I felt this movie has been a long time coming. However, the race does not make the film, so I also wanted it to carry a believable plot; the dancing be entertaining; and interesting to watch.Pros: I really enjoyed this film bringing Jamaican culture. I can't recall ever seeing a popular, mainstream film where all the main characters were Jamaican; had believable accents; and weren't stereotypical with the beanies. The steppers, family, friends, and even the "thugs" were all really intelligent, realistic people who were trying to love, live, and survive in the neighborhood they lived in by doing something positive. Even when the audience was made aware that the main character's sister chose an alternate lifestyle, it still didn't make the plot stereotypical. I was satisfied with the way it was portrayed. I LOVED the stepping; the romantic flirty relationship going on between two steppers; the trials that the main character's parents were going through; and how she dealt with coming back to her old neighborhood and dealing with Crabs in a Barrel. I respected that she was so intelligent and active at the same time, and so many other sistas in the film were handling themselves in the step world. They were all just as excellent as the fellas. I don't see that in too many movies nowadays, at least not those that would be considered Black films.Cons: I'm not quite sure why the directors or whoever put the movie together did this, but I question whether they've been to real step shows. Whenever the steppers got ready to perform, some hip hop song would play in place of the steppers' hand/feet beats. At a real step show, there is zero need for music, other than to maybe entertain the crowds in between groups. And then when hip hop songs were played, sometimes the beat to the song was off to the beat of the steppers' hands and feet. It was awkward. I was more impressed with the stepping in this movie versus "Stomp the Yard" (another great stepping movie) because the women got to represent as fierce as the guys (in "Stomp the Yard," Meagan Good got all of a few seconds of some prissy twirl and hair flip and the (Deltas?) let out a chant and a few steps and were cut immediately). Even when there were very small scenes, the ladies tore it up, especially in the auto shop, and it was without all that music to drown out their physical music. I know soundtracks have to be sold, but the movie folks could've played the music in other parts of the film.I'm not a Keyshia Cole fan, so every time I saw her, all I kept thinking was "Is it written in the script for her to constantly put her hand on her hip when she talks?" She looked uncomfortable on screen to me. I thought they should've used a host like Free or Rocsi instead. Deray Davis was funny as usual though. Also, I groaned when I found out that the movie was supposed to be in the ghetto, like stepping couldn't possibly happen anywhere else. Hollywood, as usual. However, only a couple of people were portrayed as excessively ignorant due to their neighborhood and losers, which mainstream movies tend to do.I would've given this movie five stars, but the music playing killed it for me. I definitely plan to buy it when it comes out and hopefully the bonus scenes will include the actual step shows without all the songs.