Critic's Grade: A+

A romantic drama that goes beyonde the race issue

Sara (Julia Stiles- Down to You, A Guy Thing) is a small-town girl with dreams of becoming a famour ballerina, but when a terrible accident kills her mother, her dreams suddendly come crashing down.

After her mother's death, she is forced to live with her dad Roy (Terry Kinneay- The Bodysnatchers, The Laramie Project) in Chicago. There she goes from living in a nicee neighborhood to living in a lower class apartment. On her first day of school she realizes that she and about a handful of people who attend her school are white. She meets a street-wise girl named Chenille (Kerry Washington- The Lift, Bad Company) and her street-wise yet very smart brother Derrick (Sean Patrick Thomas- Cruel Intentions, Halloween: Resurrection). Sara has to adjust to her new school and friends and when Chenille asks Sara to go to a dance club she accepts.

When they arrive Sara learns she has to dance like urban teens, but all she knows how to do is dance like a white girl. Seeing this, Derrick decides to help her out a little and begin to have a moment. On the other side of the club, witnessing it all is Nikki (Bianca Lawson- Bones, TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Derrick's ex-girlfriend who wants him back and will do anything to get him back. Derrick wants nothing to do with her andbegins spending time with Sara.

As they begin to take dance lesons from each other they each begin discovering an attraction. But as they get closer, Sara begins getting criticism for being involved in a white-black relationship. She is confronted by Derrick's friend Maliki (Fredro Starr- TV's Moesha) who gives her a lecture on how he disapproves of a "oil-milk" relationship. Sara is attacked in gym glass and nearly beaten to death by Nikki, and worst of all is yelled at by Chenille, Sara's best friend. Not knowing what to do, she breaks up with Derrick and regrets it later. Derrick seems to have problems when he learns his love for Sara is much more than he thought. When Derrick also learns that Chenille had a part in Sara's decesion to leave him, he decides to fix things and goes to find Sara.

Sara is on the other side of town, getting ready for another ballet audition, the first one since the death of her mother. At first she messes up because all she can think about is Derrick, but then Derrick bursts into the room and proclaims his love for Sara for everyone to hear and see. When she hears this Sara becomes confident and does an excellent audition. She is acccepted to Julliard and begins dating Derrick again.

The ending is just like every other teen romance movie where the everyone gets back together and everything seems happy. The movie was excellent and the cast was great with hot new stars. The chemistry between Sara and Derrick was happy and dramatic like most real love relationships. The music that is included with the film is really good and the dance moves are nicely choregraped by Fatima Robinson. The movie has a little bit of everything. It has comedy, romance, drama, suspense and other things. If you want a movie that you will love, this is your moive.

All Reviews by James Edwards
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