| 91 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ultimately the ballet performances, and notably the work of Stiefel, a star with American Ballet Theatre, are the only moments that deserve center stage.
|
| 80 |
Dallas Observer
Audiences will leave the theater ready to sign up for some dance classes themselves.
|
| 80 |
Newsweek
The end is predictable after the first five minutes (two, if you're smart), but the film sucks you in all the same.
|
| 80 |
Salon.com
Grand, juicy fun regardless, tapping as it does into some archetypal pleasure center.
|
| 75 |
Christian Science Monitor
Rarely has a dance movie done so many cinematic pirouettes with such a graceful sense of audience-pleasing fun.
|
| 75 |
New York Post
The best dance movie since "Flashdance."
|
| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
Monica Eng
Although the film's ending is a little too neat and happy to be realistic, it does leave you with the feeling of young girls taking charge of their lives.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times
The movie uses the materials of melodrama, but is gentle with them; it's oriented more in the real world, and doesn't jack up every conflict and love story into an overwrought crisis.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
There isn't a sensible reason to recommend this movie, except that its melange of clichés and conventions is embarrassingly enjoyable.
|
| 70 |
The New York Times
Sexy and infectious in spite of itself.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
Moira Macdonald
A dopey but sweet-natured I-love-to-dance film, fits nicely into the downhill-since-"The-Red-Shoes" tradition of ballet movies.
|
| 63 |
San Francisco Examiner
Aiming to keep it real, the cast of the new dance casserole Center Stage sweats spunk.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Modestly entertaining when it is engaged in such a celebration onstage, but it trips up when the action moves backstage, where bad dialogue ... lurks in the shadows.
|
| 63 |
Boston Globe
Anybody who's ever laced on toe shoes, or wanted to, will find something to take away from Center Stage.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
The story is shallow stuff, but pretty entertaining until it becomes utterly preposterous.
|
| 50 |
Variety
Unfortunately, Center Stage is directed and shot (by Geoffrey Simpson) in a way that doesn't let the audience feel the exhilarating pull of the dance world.
|
| 50 |
Entertainment Weekly
As a Balanchine-like martinet, Peter Gallagher is a hoot, whispering to his minions about good and bad feet.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
It's so predictable, you can set your watch to when the bulimic will sneak away to the bathroom.
|
| 50 |
Los Angeles Times
Jan Stuart
Only really kicks in when it is dancing, which is about half the time.
|
| 50 |
Rolling Stone
The cliched script by Carol Heikkinen plays like "Dawson's Creek" in toeshoes.
|
| 50 |
Village Voice
Elizabeth Zimmer
Pays lip service to the seriousness of craft but won't let us watch the dancing.
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Comes off as an episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210" where, instead of spoiled rich kids, the characters are all ballet stars in the making.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
The strained romantic plot is a slow fizzle.
|
| 50 |
LA Weekly
Has next to no story beyond some stock clichés about bulimia, stage mothers and internal affairs in the corps de ballet.
|
| 50 |
Baltimore Sun
All that artistry is surrounded by a hackish, paint-by-numbers storyline that makes the time between dance numbers seem endless.
|
| 50 |
New York Daily News
Don't like archetypes? Wait till you meet the cliches.
|
| 50 |
Washington Post
Awkwardly acted.
|
| 40 |
Chicago Reader
An ounce of self-awareness about its almost gleeful use of cliches would have improved this dance soap opera.
|
| 40 |
Mr. Showbiz
A big disappointment. It's toe-tappin' tripe aimed squarely at the undiscerning Britney Spears set.
|
| 38 |
Charlotte Observer
Joanne Spataro
Despite the fun dancing, sidestep Center Stage.
|
| 30 |
Washington Post
All dancing and hugging and no good.
|
| 20 |
Austin Chronicle
Unlikely to receive many curtain calls.
|
| 0 |
TNT RoughCut
Staff
While movie reviewers like to throw around the line, "This is the worst movie I've ever seen," this movie may be the worst movie I've ever seen.
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