In association with

Save The Last Dance Dvd [2001]
from Paramount Home Entertainment
starring Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kerry Washington, Fredro Starr, Terry Kinney
directed by Thomas Carter

Features:

• Anamorphic
• Dubbed
• PAL
• Widescreen

Editorial Review:

Save the Last Dance enjoyed a profitable release in early 2001, with box-office earnings that exceeded anyone's expectations. Its performance illustrates the staying power of a formulaic film that avoids the pitfalls and clichés that would otherwise render it forgettable. Since there's nothing new here, you'll appreciate the original quirks in a character-based plot that's just around the corner from Flashdance, and just as familiar. Sara (Julia Stiles) gave up a promising ballet career when her mother was killed while rushing to attend her daughter's crucial audition to Juilliard; Sara blames herself for the accident, and at her new, mostly African-American high school in Chicago, she's uncertain of her future.

Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas) has no such doubts; his own future is bright, and his attraction to Sara is immediate; they connect (predictably), and Sara's dormant funk emerges, with Derek's coaching, as she learns hip-hop dancing in a local club. Obligatory subplots are equally routine: Derek's sister (Kerry Washington) is a single mom struggling with her child's absentee father; Derek's best friend (Fredro Starr) feels trapped in his gangster lifestyle; and Sara's once-estranged father (Terry Kinney) is doing his best to correct past mistakes. Within the confines of this standard follow-your-dream drama, director Thomas Carter capitalises on a script that allows these characters to be real, intelligent, and thoughtful about their lives and their futures. It's obvious that Stiles's dancing was intercut with that of a professional double, but that illusion hardly matters when the rest of the film's so earnestly positive and genuine. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• not a bad viewing
  Everyone had gone on about this film for years telling me how brilliant it was so I decided I'd beter watch it! I have to say I have seen better films involving dance or someone coming from a bad background and finally 'making it'. It was a good experience and the music was great but I'd much rather watch something like 'Center Stage' or even the second 'Dirty Dancing' again and again than this more than once.

• All dance films seem to follow the exact same formula, but this one stands out as one of the best
  I think the title pretty much sums up what I'm going to say in this review. I finally got around to watching 'Save the Last Dance', becoming quite tired of the 'How can you not have seen 'Save the Last Dance', it's the best dance film out there!' comments each time the film came up in conversation. And yes, I enjoyed it, it was a good, entertaining film, but it definatley was not one of the greatest things ever created and I don't think it deserves quite as much hype as it recieves.
  The story line has... more info

• Predictable, but well done throughout
  This film sees Julia Stiles in her normal earlier film role, the talented yet somewhat reserved character who hides either a striking beauty or inner talent that is reluctantly (but eventually stunningly) brought to the fore for all to see.
  She plays a young ballet dancer called who's mother dies in a crash going to see her audition which she fails to impress at. She is forced to go and live with her father who is a down-and-out character living in a dingy flat. That said, he does not fit into the... more info

• Brilliant Film
  I have had this dvd sitting on my shelf for about a year. The other night i decided to watch it and i have to say it is fantastic. The storyline is really true to life with brilliant characters and a great soundtrack. It tells a story of a girl named sara who has a dream of getting into dance school to study ballet. Her mother is killed on the way to sara's audition so she has to go to live with her estranged father in an all black community in a rough area of chicago. She is befriended by a girl named... more info

Similar Products:

More from Amazon