Center Stage

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Ultimately the ballet performances, and notably the work of Stiefel, a star with American Ballet Theatre, are the only moments that deserve center stage.

Dallas Observer Jean Oppenheimer

Audiences will leave the theater ready to sign up for some dance classes themselves.

Newsweek Ted Gideonse

The end is predictable after the first five minutes (two, if you're smart), but the film sucks you in all the same.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Grand, juicy fun regardless, tapping as it does into some archetypal pleasure center.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Rarely has a dance movie done so many cinematic pirouettes with such a graceful sense of audience-pleasing fun.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The best dance movie since "Flashdance."

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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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.

Film.com Robert Horton

There isn't a sensible reason to recommend this movie, except that its melange of clichés and conventions is embarrassingly enjoyable.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Sexy and infectious in spite of itself.

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.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Aiming to keep it real, the cast of the new dance casserole Center Stage sweats spunk.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

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.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Anybody who's ever laced on toe shoes, or wanted to, will find something to take away from Center Stage.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The story is shallow stuff, but pretty entertaining until it becomes utterly preposterous.

Variety Emanuel Levy

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.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

As a Balanchine-like martinet, Peter Gallagher is a hoot, whispering to his minions about good and bad feet.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

It's so predictable, you can set your watch to when the bulimic will sneak away to the bathroom.

Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart

Only really kicks in when it is dancing, which is about half the time.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The cliched script by Carol Heikkinen plays like "Dawson's Creek" in toeshoes.

Village Voice Elizabeth Zimmer

Pays lip service to the seriousness of craft but won't let us watch the dancing.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Comes off as an episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210" where, instead of spoiled rich kids, the characters are all ballet stars in the making.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

The strained romantic plot is a slow fizzle.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Has next to no story beyond some stock clichés about bulimia, stage mothers and internal affairs in the corps de ballet.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

All that artistry is surrounded by a hackish, paint-by-numbers storyline that makes the time between dance numbers seem endless.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Don't like archetypes? Wait till you meet the cliches.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Awkwardly acted.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

An ounce of self-awareness about its almost gleeful use of cliches would have improved this dance soap opera.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

A big disappointment. It's toe-tappin' tripe aimed squarely at the undiscerning Britney Spears set.

Charlotte Observer Joanne Spataro

Despite the fun dancing, sidestep Center Stage.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

All dancing and hugging and no good.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Unlikely to receive many curtain calls.

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.