Battle of the Year
Battle of the Year Image
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Metascore
29

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 19 Critics What's this?

User Score
2.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

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  • Summary: Battle of the Year is the Olympics of break dancing, a tournament held every year that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul and former B-Boy Dante (Laz Alonso) wants to put the country that started it all back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend Blake (Josh Holloway), who was a championship basketball coach, to coach his team. Armed with the theory that the right coach can make any team champions, they assemble a Dream Team of all the best b-boys across the country. With only three months until Battle of the Year, Blake has to use every tactic he knows to get twelve talented individuals to come together as a team if they're going to bring the trophy back to America. [Screen Gems]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 19
  3. Negative: 10 out of 19
  1. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jordan Hoffman
    Sep 19, 2013
    60
    It’s undeniable that the good-natured “Afterschool Special” vibe here plays to the film’s corny strengths, and the dancing is impressive. So much so that it’s almost impossible not to cheer during the final round.
  2. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Bilge Ebiri
    Sep 22, 2013
    50
    Luckily, there is a movie you can watch instead that will give you both fascinating context and awesome dancing. It’s called "Planet B-Boy."
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Sara Stewart
    Sep 30, 2013
    50
    At the risk of sounding 100, I think it’s regrettable this film had to be shot in digital 3-D. Both those formats actually do a frustrating disservice to the depiction of the action, making them look choppier, more flickery and occasionally blurrier than they would otherwise.
  4. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Ed Gonzalez
    Sep 18, 2013
    38
    Remarkably, the highlight of Benson Lee's film, essentially a fiction reboot of his Planet B-Boy, isn't the scene where Chris Brown gets punched in the face.
  5. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Keith Staskiewicz
    Sep 20, 2013
    33
    For his part, Lee seems to have pored over every sports underdog movie of the last twenty years, boiled away all the interesting particulars, and kept whatever dross was left.
  6. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Louis Black
    Sep 25, 2013
    20
    Few characters are well-drawn, rivalries substitute for real group dynamics, and the dancing is chaotic, showy, and confusing.
  7. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by:  Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
    Sep 19, 2013
    0
    Too incompetent to work as an underdog dance flick, but not nearly weird enough to qualify as howling camp, Battle Of The Year is destined to please only bad movie buffs desperate for a fix of awful dialogue, blatant product placement, and clunky exposition.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 4 out of 4
  1. Kadeemluvmusic
    Sep 29, 2013
    0
    Chris Brown should've make a Stomp the Yard sequel with this crap. Battle of the Year is far from dead, but the movie is killing us in the dance movie genre. I love Josh Holloway from Lost, but who in the hell did they sign him up in the movie? This is a Step Up rip-off. If anybody that could teach incredible moves like this, it would have to be Michael Jackson. Bottom Line: Save it for the Razzies because this film is a dud.… Expand
  2. MarkDetrel
    Sep 20, 2013
    0
    Battle of the Year is one of the most horrible movies of this year, is like a terrible spin-off of the Step Up saga. This movie has good coreographies, but the rest of the movie (development, screenplay, performances, etc.) is extremely bad.… Expand
  3. Thegodfatherson
    Sep 20, 2013
    0
    As a whole, though, there’s not nearly enough quality material to make Battle of the Year recommendable (much less, accessible) to anyone otheher than the most hard-core of dance fanatics and even they may want to think twice about seeing the movie in theaters. Everyone else, this is just potential future home viewing material for a drinking game: take a shot every time a dancer points and oohs at his opponent or Josh Holloway gives a pep talk or when there’s an unnecessary reaction shot featuring Chris Brown).… Expand
  4. Movie1997
    Sep 21, 2013
    0
    I don't have anything to say other than the fact that you don't need to see this movie at all! It SUCKS! Be sure to check out my YouTube channel "TheMovieManLife" for all things movies.… Expand

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