It's very rare that a film comes along that's truly worthless but 'Save the Last Dance' is most certainly it. Thomas Carter has created a film full of embarrassing black stereotypes. We have the males; 'gangstas' and guys trying to forget their criminal pasts (if you are a black male in this movie, than you MUST have some form of criminal past) and the women, who are crack-ho's or single mothers. Enter Julia Stiles prissy little white ballerina who has daddy-issues but being white, is the only decent person with a squeaky clean past. The only way black people will accept her, is if she alters her ballerina classical training by embracing r'n'b or gyrating on the dance floor to hip-hop. She must also learn to talk like she is auditioning for a female version of 'Malibu's Most Wanted', although sadly this is no comedy. This might on a good day be considered a forgivable piece of film-making but add to this dialogue written by a retarded child (a look at the 'bitch' argument in the school gym drives this point home) and you have a film that's both poorly made and offencive. The soothing thing is this predictable bland nonsense is most audiences will get what exactly what they need to reinforce black and white stereotypes....the disturbing thing is it's popularity and acceptance as a 'feel good harmless film'. In an ideal world this would be banned...or better still not made at all. Fortunatly later attempts at this, like the recent 'Take the Lead' handle this subject with a little more competency.
Review of Save the Last Dance
