Take the Lead

Cast: Antonio Banderas, Rob Brown, Yaya DaCosta, Dante Basco, John Ortiz
Plot: The movie starts with Pierre Dulaine (Banderas) witnessing a student (Brown) take a golf club to his principal's car. The next day, Pierre stops by the local high school and meets with the principal who got her car beat up. He doesn't tell her who destroyed her car, but he does ask to start a ballroom dancing program at the school. He wants a regular class, but the principal only lets him work with the students in detention. When he gets down there, he finds that they aren't exactly eager to learn ballroom dancing. After a few classes, they start to do some dancing, and he tells them that there's a ballroom dancing tournament coming up. He says he'll pay the entrance fees if they want to enter.

They all get excited about the tournament and begin practicing a lot harder. During this time, we learn that the student that beat up the principal's car, Rock, is living in the school. We also find out some more about Larhette (DaCosta). She ends up leaving her mom's apartment after her mom's boyfriend tries to rape her. Then, she goes to the school and starts to dance in the detention hall. Rock hears and goes to see what's going on, leading to a fight between them. Pierre finds out about it and makes them dancing partners so they can work out their problems. They become friends after a while and get rather good at their dance routine.

The competition is tonight. Rock is doing some sort of illegal electronics sale with some one he knows. The competition begins, and Larhette is left waiting for Rock. Rock screws up the sale and gets out without the other guy doing anything, because he's running from the alarms Rock set off. He hurries to the competition. Meanwhile, a group of Dulaine's students tie one of his paying students in the tango section with the coolest three-person-tango you'll ever see. Maybe the only one. Meanwhile, Larhette is beginning to think Rock isn't going to show up, and contemplates leaving. Pierre convinces her that he'll be there though, and he arrives just in time. They compete, but you never find out who won.

Verdict: This movie was pretty good. I was surprised that this was actually based on a true story and Dulaine's done this in about 42 schools. Anyway, there are a bunch of new actors and actresses in this movie, and none of them are bad. It's worth checking out, and it's worth 4 out of 5. If you can, check it out in the theaters, or rent it.

Ballroom dancing? I'd rather watch Barney.