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Save the Last Dance

Starring: Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas
Director: Thomas Carter
Genre: Drama
Year: 2001
Rating: 4 / 5

Reviewed by Guest Scribe Puff Daddy

I stopped watching "interracial relationship movies" a while ago. No true reason for stopping, although I guess the biggest reason was that my head hurt. There are just so many times that some one can allow another person to beat on his or her head with his ideas or theories without walking away with a headache. So, I just stopped watching them. I guess the only reason that I can give you for watching Save the Last Dance is the fact that Julia Stiles is extremely hot. Well, that and the fact that I'm addicted to teen pulp movies, as the curator of this site can attest. However, the movie is so much more than that. Save the Last Dance is a delightful portrayal of an interracial relationship for what it truly is… a relationship.

To discuss the plot of the movie is to trivialize the movie. The plot is as simple as any other love story. However, this is a movie review, and that is what movie reviews do. So, let's get this over with. Sara Johnson, played by the aforementioned "hot" Stiles, has just moved to the South Side of Chicago to stay with her father after the death of her mother in a car accident. Obviously, Sara is struggling with the death of her mother; however, it is only intensified by the guilt that her mother was driving to Sara's dance tryout for The Juliard School of Dance, almost at the same time that Sara falters in her dance routine. In Chicago, Sara is befriended by Chenille Reynolds (Kerry Washington), and through this new friendship meets Chenille's brother Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). Derek is struggling to distance himself from a troubled past that includes run-ins with the law, while staying true to himself and his neighborhood. In particular, Derek has to find a place for his childhood friend Malakai.

However, it is this simple, traditional plot that empowers the movie. No longer is the viewer told to focus on the fact that this is an "interracial relationship;" the viewer is allowed to absorb the characters as a whole. The audience is allowed to make decisions on to what they want to focus from the character. Both Sara and Derek develop into these full characters with a host of fears, loves, and passions. Does the viewer focus on Sara's need to find reconciliation about her mother's death? Or is the need to forgive her father for leaving her and her Mom for his music more important? Can Derek make it into Georgetown? Or is he going to fall back into the tempestuous waves of destruction of his past? This character development empowers the movie past the stereotypical "interracial movie;" however, the audience is allowed to also delve into this subject matter. Anyone who has ever been in an interracial relationship can appreciate the humor and frustration of the Sara and Derek "bus experience."

All in all, Save the Last Dance is a winner. It offers developed and interesting characters, humor, an enjoyable story and a unique look into an interracial relationship - the relationship itself. It offers more than just politically correct drivel. It offers hope that as a society we are growing in closer to a race-blinded society. Just in the simple fact that Save the Last Dance does not label itself an "interracial movie" makes it one of the best.

Cast:

Certification: Rated PG-13 for violence.
Running Time: 112 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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