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How She Move
Paramount Vantage


4.1

based on 21 reviews
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based on 8 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some drug content, suggestive material and language

Starring Tracey Armstrong, Clé Bennett, Nina Dobrey, Romina D'Ugo, Kevin Duhaney, Shawn Fernandez, Brennan Gademans, and Jason Harrow

Bursting with raw talent and intelligence, Raya Green, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, has always been the family’s one great hope. She won the rare chance to break out of their drug and crime-infested neighborhood when she was accepted into the exclusive Seaton Academy. But when her sister dies of an overdose, the family is shattered and Raya is forced to return to the place she tried so hard to escape. It’s not easy to go back – especially when one-time friends, including the tough minded Michelle, see Raya as a stuck-up traitor who left the community behind. Feeling trapped and looking for a way out, Raya learns about a step competition with a $50,000 cash prize that could change her fate. Most of the crews that win the big money are all male, forcing Raya to fight her way in as the sole female member of the Jane Street Junta, led by the reining champ of the local steppin’ scene Bishop. As sparks begin to fly between Raya and Bishop, a false move by Raya leaves her without a crew, and she finds herself in a battle between her loyalty, her determination, her family’s ambitions and her heart. As the big contest approaches, she realizes it’s no longer just about the money or the opportunity, but also the one thing that she’s been missing in her life: a sense of self. (Paramount Vantage)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Annmarie Morais
DIRECTED BY:	Ian Iqbal Rashid
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 29, 2008 Theatrical: January 25, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Canada

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Mainly it’s a very solid dance picture, which is the point.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Rutina Wesley glowers with just the right touch of sweetness as a brainy student (and stellar after-school stepper).

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

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.

Washington Post John Anderson

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.

Variety Justin Chang

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.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

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.

The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz

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.

The New Yorker David Denby

A rudimentary but thoroughly enjoyable step musical.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

There's tremendous energy in How She Move, so much that the audience can't help but be swept up.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

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.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

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.

USA Today Claudia Puig

How She Move has two key assets: powerful dance sequences and an emphasis on education.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Formulaic but well-acted variation on the theme of pursuing your dreams through dance.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jason McBride

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.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The atmosphere is convincing - there is an "Eight Mile" desperation to Raya's plight - but nothing makes sense.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

When the cast starts clomping atop a car, their synchronized bodies joining with the booming cross-rhythms, we're sold.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

How She Move doesn't exactly break any new ground. But the terrific dance numbers on display should please its teenage target audience.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

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.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Gets it right in every dance sequence, but stumbles badly whenever the characters step offstage.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

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.

San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.1 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Melodee G gave it a9:
Great film with a fresh and talented young cast and electric dance sequences! Way to go, Canada!!

Chad S. gave it a6:
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".

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
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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How She Move Paramount Vantage

How She Move
Paramount Vantage