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How She Move
Metascore
63 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
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  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    88
    Mainly it's a very solid dance picture, which is the point.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    83
    Rutina Wesley glowers with just the right touch of sweetness as a brainy student (and stellar after-school stepper).
  3. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    75
    Choreographer Hi Hat and director Ian Iqbal Rashid kick the film into high gear every so often with dance sequences, climaxing with a dance-off in Detroit that seems too short.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Jim Ridley
    70
    Especially good are Wesley, whose expressions are a study in shifting thought, and Tre Armstrong as her street-hardened but good-hearted rival, a stock role that Armstrong fills with unmediated feeling.
  5. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Matt Zoller Seitz
    70
    There's nary a twist you don't see coming. But the film's strong acting, spectacular dance routines and culturally specific details turn clichés into catharsis. It's the sort of film that sends you home with a spring in your step.
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    70
    Title refers not only to its heroine's physical gyrations but also her moral maneuverings as she strives to break out of her lower-class surroundings in this moody, intelligent take on conventional material.
  7. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: John Anderson
    70
    The movie, which is burdened by a rather mediocre script by Annmarie Morais but boasts some terrific performances -- is not just a sports movie. It's a girls-can't-do-it/girls-can-do-it/girls-do-it/girls-beat-the-boys-at-it movie.
  8. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    70
    A rudimentary but thoroughly enjoyable step musical.
  9. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    67
    This kind of a dance film lives and dies by the routines, and this one wins: Mixing elements of gymnastics, karate, and break with the almighty step – an exceedingly polite term for what is really an awesome stomp.
  10. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    67
    How She Move is the latest urban music drama from MTV Films, and it manages to give a familiar story a vivid jolt of character.
  11. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    67
    There's tremendous energy in How She Move, so much that the audience can't help but be swept up.
  12. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    63
    The atmosphere is convincing - there is an "Eight Mile" desperation to Raya's plight - but nothing makes sense.
  13. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    63
    Formulaic but well-acted variation on the theme of pursuing your dreams through dance.
  14. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    How She Move has two key assets: powerful dance sequences and an emphasis on education.
  15. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    63
    When the cast starts clomping atop a car, their synchronized bodies joining with the booming cross-rhythms, we're sold.
  16. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Jason McBride
    63
    Dialogue isn't Morais's strength, and it's only when the actors stop trading "Just give me a chance" chestnuts that the film really takes off. The deftly shot dance sequences are entirely satisfying, thrillingly choreographed by Hihat (most famous for her work with Missy Elliott) to music by the likes of Lil Mama and Toronto's Tha Smugglaz.
  17. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    60
    How She Move doesn't exactly break any new ground. But the terrific dance numbers on display should please its teenage target audience.
  18. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    50
    Gets it right in every dance sequence, but stumbles badly whenever the characters step offstage.
  19. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: David Wiegand
    50
    Movie cliches are supposed to be bad things because they make the movie too predictable. But you know, there are times when they actually work in a film's favor.
  20. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    50
    Produced by MTV Films, this step-dancing drama is mired in cliche, but with its dingy ghetto settings and hardened, despondent young characters, it's marginally more interesting than "Stomp the Yard," the 2007 movie that inaugurated the subgenre.
  21. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    50
    The film's good intentions gradually get lost in a sea of overwrought contrivances, stock characters, awkward cameos from B- and C-listers (R&B singer Keyshia Cole and not-so-funnyman DeRay Davis) and warmed-over family issues.
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User Reviews

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User Score
4.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. MelodeeG
    9
    Great film with a fresh and talented young cast and electric dance sequences! Way to go, Canada!!
  2. ChadS.
    6
    If the movie world offers a glimpse into the everyday realities of our culture, then by all appearances, Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech has been co-opted by today's black youth and applied to their goal of capturing first place in step-dancing contests. Nobody is going to finance a movie about a black girl who can cut up a cadaver, so "How She Move" offers this compromise: Raya is a pre-med student who can cut up a dance floor. When Michelle(Tracey Armstrong) invites Raya (Rutina Wesley) to join an all-girl step team, "How She Move" could've been a battle-of-the-sexes movie, since we are told that all the top money goes to the men. But Raya is no feminist; she's an opportunist, a girl who has grown accustomed to being on her own(Raya was a black girl in a predominantly white boarding school). She convinces Bishop(Dwain Murphy) to sign her up for his crew, in a scene reminiscent of "Grease"(a step-dance reinterpretation of the John Travolta/Jeff Conaway number "Greased Lightning"), and double-crosses him when her self-assertiveness(due in part to her educational background) butts heads with the patriarchal rules of the ghetto(even a Canadian ghetto). "How She Move" concludes tidily, but at least the story throws more obstacles in front of its inevitable happy ending. "How She Move" is also hindered by a heroine who doesn't really need to win the contest. The more you scrutinize Raya's actions, the more you realize that she's only in it for herself. Raya's no saint; she's a flawed person, which makes "How She Move" infinitely more interesting than last year's "Stomp the Yard".… Full Review »
  3. [Anonymous]
    10
    It is pretty good as dance movies come and the dancing is soooo good I would recommend it! (it helps that the acting is good).
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