A multi-platform release from beActive, who have already turned Beat Girl into a novel, a web and television series, Beat Girl's formulaic plotting doesn't warrant the fuss.
Heather (Clare Danes lookalike Dylan) dreams of getting into Julliard to study the piano but her plans come undone when her mother dies and she is forced to move in with her estranged father (Higgs), who is a bit strict about noise and whatnot, and step-brother (Percelle Ascott). When her application for a scholarship proves unsuccessful, Louise, after hearing how much a DJ makes in one night, turns to DJing to cobble together the necessary college funds. But she's never beat-mixed in her life and needs help from local record shop owner Toby (Adams)…
Beat Girl mirrors the slate of dance movies that we're inundated with right now - classically trained girl is turned by a more street level style - and while the different slant of piano-student-to-DJ is a welcome break, it disappointingly turns out to be the same film as How She Move, Save The Last Dance et al. The story goes through the motions, failing to show how much Heather wants Julliard and, later, how much she loves dance music - if she doesn't seem that into it, why should we care? At one point Toby asks her, "Is this just a phase?" and we can't but help think that it is. It also happens far too easily for her: she wants to become a DJ because it makes money, she makes eyes at Toby who can get her a night, and boom - she's a DJ. Handy, that. The formula extends itself to the Richard Curtis staple of the kooky best mate and gay best friend.
While a subplot involving her stepbrother and his friend (an underused Alfie Brown-Sykes) to produce dance tracks in their bedroom a la TV's Youngers is diverting, the soundtrack is rife with generic trance that links the scenes Hollyoaks style. "I'm DJing this weekend - have you got anything I can wear? I need to look hot" says Heather at one point, summing up the depth to which this movie goes and what it finds most important.
A missed opportunity for a decent movie.
