Step Up 2

Step Up 2: The Streets (Jon M. Chu, 2008) - C+

Graceful people piss me off, and there are dozens of them here, exhibiting a level of physical coordination that human beings simply should not possess. The filmmaking is not nearly so prodigious; in fact, when it comes to dialogue and plotting, it's dumb as a rock. But this in-name-only sequel is well-paced, energetic, and shockingly easy to watch (it's also slightly racist, but whatever). It's smart enough to lean heavily on the dance sequences to the point of essentially becoming a revue, which turns out to be fine because the dancing is legitimately spectacular -- distinctive, entertaining, and really fucking impressive. The semblance of a story stringing the dance sequences together is predictably turgid, but less so than the first film's; I liked how no one wasted screen time agonizing over the inevitable romance, and the movie wisely never lets the characters keep talking for too long. Performances range from sweet (Brianna Evigan) to bland (Robert Hoffman) to apoplectic (Adam G. Sevani), but everyone can dance, and everyone does, a lot. I almost wrote this one off as skippable; I'm glad I didn't.