Make It Happen
Release Date: 23 December 2008
Director: Darren Grant
Starring: John Reardon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Riley Smith, Tessa Thompson
Details: US / 90mins / (12A)
Director: Darren Grant
Starring: John Reardon, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Riley Smith, Tessa Thompson
Details: US / 90mins / (12A)
In a nutshell, Make It Happen is Step Up 2 feat. Save The Last Dance and How She Move (club mix). Lauryn (Winstead) moves from Indiana to the big smoke to fulfil her dream as a dancer but is rejected by the prestigious Chicago School Of Music And Dance and winds up taking a job as an accountant in a club to make ends meet. While waiting for a break, she hones her skills watching the club's dancers, as romantic interest DJ Russ (Smith) pushes her to believe in herself. Although Make It Happen is a competent movie, it's also bland and formulaic; there are only so many plot variations you can have with this kind of narrative - our financially strapped hero comes to big city to learn that the established dancing community aren't fond of their street style but finally succeeds because they believe in themselves - and Make It Happen struggles for anything resembling originality. Writer Duane Adler is a dab hand at this after penning Step Up 1 & 2, and Save The Last Dance 1 & 2, but his attempt to add some depth to Lauryn (she's an orphan) doesn't ring true. You can't really have your character down in the dumps in one scene and happy-go-lucky the next without one scenario feeling false. Winstead is fine in her first lead but she's lumbered with a character that is just too uninteresting to root for. The fact that the third Step Up, pencilled in for 2010, is in 3-D goes to show that ways of reinventing this sub genre are already on the wane.
Review by Gavin Burke
Your Comments
No comments have been posted for this article yet. Be the first!
Login or Register to leave a comment
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed here are those of the viewer and do not reflect those of Entertainment.ie. Entertainment.ie accepts no responsibility, legal or otherwise, for their accuracy of content. Please contact us to report abusive content
Search for Cinema Listings
Most Popular Reviews
|
|
Dark Shadows |
|
|
A Kiss for Jed |
|
|
Project X |
|
|
The Raid |
|
|
American Pie: Reunion |




