Look, I just need you to know that those of us who have a cult fascination with this movie ALSO do not disagree with a single word of this piece. It’s a movie of a time and the dancing seemed cool at the time and we were like 12-15 years old and Charlie seemed like a dreamboat and I don’t know I can’t even explain it but there it is. And yes they are all real ballerinas and therefore not real film actors and we just go with it for the joy of lines like “I don’t want to go to college I wanna dance!”
Plus this movie will always and forever be (in my mind) the movie that gave us Zoe Saldana and that cannot be bad.
This is one of my favorite movies to rewatch and yell at and I’ve been waiting for this review forever. My only regret is that you didn’t get the opportunity to see it at a teen, think it was Oscar worthy, and then watch the quality slowly degrade like Miss Havisham’s tattered wedding dress over the course of 25 years like a lot of us here. Also I want everyone to google “Ethan Stiefel Now” and see what Cooper Neilsen looks like today, you’re in for the shock of your lives❤️
lolololol, i love this movie AND i loved this review. i will watch any dance movie and enjoy every garbage moment.
tiny FYI, jody doesn’t want to spend her best years “weaving the rows back and forth” in the corps de ballet, aka the dancers who all dance together and frequently make pretty patterns on stage and don’t do as many exciting moves—like the line of dancers who trap cooper & charlie—not waving a rose. but honestly, as mishearings go, that one made me actually laugh out loud. i’m sure she also doesn’t want to waste her best years waving a rose either.
The only miss in this truly excellent review is commentary on the fact that Sergei is played by none other than 1998 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Ilya Kulik.
Also I personally love that the Broadway Dance Center teacher is Priscilla Lopez but that’s some niche Broadway shit. Speaking of, there are two Gilded Age castings here too (Donna Murphy and Debra Monk!)
It's amazing to me that grownups created what amounts to the horney fever-dream of a 13 year old girl, got it green-lit and in wide distribution. Or maybe... my horney fever-dreams were influenced by movies like this? ... at least I know what I'm going to talk about in therapy this week...
Fun fact: Every member of my high school dance team, including me, was so obsessed with this movie in 2000-2002 that we did dances to "The Way You Make Me Feel" AND "Canned Heat" AND "Higher Ground"!! We were clearly the target audience for this movie.
Reading this made me realize I have actually seen this movie. I think maybe I had blocked it out. I definitely remember Emily being forced to leave ballet because she is Brendan Fraser in the whale, but with a tutu.
The National Ballet of Canada has done a production of I believe it was Swan Lake (or maybe Sleeping Beauty? I can't remember) with a heavily implied sexual assault in the opening number and I'm still mad I had to see that like a decade later!!!
Am I so bad at dancing that I watch this movie and am amazed people can do this stuff with their bodies? I never saw the Julia Styles dance movie, except for like a 5 second clip, and THAT was bad but only because even I can cock my head to the side and do weird shit with my arms.
Bahahaha this was amazing and even with your write up I truly cannot imagine what it was like to watch that fresh. It was fucking weird 20 years ago but now it must be like. Brain explodes. 😂
That last line. I’m dead.
Look, I just need you to know that those of us who have a cult fascination with this movie ALSO do not disagree with a single word of this piece. It’s a movie of a time and the dancing seemed cool at the time and we were like 12-15 years old and Charlie seemed like a dreamboat and I don’t know I can’t even explain it but there it is. And yes they are all real ballerinas and therefore not real film actors and we just go with it for the joy of lines like “I don’t want to go to college I wanna dance!”
Plus this movie will always and forever be (in my mind) the movie that gave us Zoe Saldana and that cannot be bad.
Every line of this piece was absolute gold.
This is one of my favorite movies to rewatch and yell at and I’ve been waiting for this review forever. My only regret is that you didn’t get the opportunity to see it at a teen, think it was Oscar worthy, and then watch the quality slowly degrade like Miss Havisham’s tattered wedding dress over the course of 25 years like a lot of us here. Also I want everyone to google “Ethan Stiefel Now” and see what Cooper Neilsen looks like today, you’re in for the shock of your lives❤️
lolololol, i love this movie AND i loved this review. i will watch any dance movie and enjoy every garbage moment.
tiny FYI, jody doesn’t want to spend her best years “weaving the rows back and forth” in the corps de ballet, aka the dancers who all dance together and frequently make pretty patterns on stage and don’t do as many exciting moves—like the line of dancers who trap cooper & charlie—not waving a rose. but honestly, as mishearings go, that one made me actually laugh out loud. i’m sure she also doesn’t want to waste her best years waving a rose either.
how did I miss the poll and also PLEASE DO RETURN TO OZ!!! <#
The only miss in this truly excellent review is commentary on the fact that Sergei is played by none other than 1998 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Ilya Kulik.
Also I personally love that the Broadway Dance Center teacher is Priscilla Lopez but that’s some niche Broadway shit. Speaking of, there are two Gilded Age castings here too (Donna Murphy and Debra Monk!)
It's amazing to me that grownups created what amounts to the horney fever-dream of a 13 year old girl, got it green-lit and in wide distribution. Or maybe... my horney fever-dreams were influenced by movies like this? ... at least I know what I'm going to talk about in therapy this week...
I somehow missed this movie, and I'm so glad you said to watch the final dance because I could NEVER have imagined something so BAD
Fun fact: Every member of my high school dance team, including me, was so obsessed with this movie in 2000-2002 that we did dances to "The Way You Make Me Feel" AND "Canned Heat" AND "Higher Ground"!! We were clearly the target audience for this movie.
Reading this made me realize I have actually seen this movie. I think maybe I had blocked it out. I definitely remember Emily being forced to leave ballet because she is Brendan Fraser in the whale, but with a tutu.
The way I remember every single frame of this movie due to watching it constantly ages 11-16 when I should’ve been learning a language.
The National Ballet of Canada has done a production of I believe it was Swan Lake (or maybe Sleeping Beauty? I can't remember) with a heavily implied sexual assault in the opening number and I'm still mad I had to see that like a decade later!!!
I love this review and I love this movie so much (I’ve now watched it over again because of this, thank you!)
I do love that final dance soooo much lol
Am I so bad at dancing that I watch this movie and am amazed people can do this stuff with their bodies? I never saw the Julia Styles dance movie, except for like a 5 second clip, and THAT was bad but only because even I can cock my head to the side and do weird shit with my arms.
Bahahaha this was amazing and even with your write up I truly cannot imagine what it was like to watch that fresh. It was fucking weird 20 years ago but now it must be like. Brain explodes. 😂
THAT LAST LINE 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I can't believe they made this movie