Stomp
the Yard--boasting the funniest mock heroic preview since
Drumline--opened big this weekend, and Meghan Keane
delivers the goods in her New York Sun review. The
film follows a young dancer named DJ as he arrives at Truth
University, "still recovering from the death of his brother, the
victim of gun violence at the hands of a sore-losing dance squad
back in L.A." (Note to self: Dancers For Life club was not a
completely stupid idea after all. You were right: No one should
live in fear of dancing well.) Anyway, DJ finds healing and purpose
in a strictly regimented, over the top dance fraternity, and
eventually even gets the girl. Keane suggests the film,
"overestimates the transcendence of step dancing and is ultimately
undone by the male equivalent of jazz hands."
And, no, Keane does not expand this theory into a critique of
the architects of the Iraq war.
Many box office wrap-ups have noted the wisdom of releasing this
film on MLK Day weekend, as if teenagers who propelled the dance
drama to Number One were looking more for a cultural experience to
foster remembrance than a loud, raucous--I was going to say "hip,"
but I'm struggling to remain relevent here--bangin'
flick for a Friday night. It was also interesting, however,
to learn that "after members of Alpha Phi Alpha kicked up a
fuss about how black fraternities are depicted in Stomp the
Yard, Sony Pictures popped for an undisclosed donation to the
King memorial." So love the film or hate it, it's all about love
for the civil rights movement, anyway. It's just an undisclosed sum
of love.
Keane's take? "Stomp the Yard wants to make an argument
for the historical and cultural significance of stepping, but no
amount of trick camerawork can make hissing snake hand puppets look
tough."
Well, it's good to finally know why the heavies in my own
neighborhood don't take me seriously. As for "historical and
cultural" content, I'm sure it's well-intentioned, but probably
ultimately like the political content of monster movies: Expected,
perfunctory and not what the vast majority of the film's audience
goes to see the film for. (Excluding, of course, graduate school
students desperately seeking a fun angle for a stalled thesis.)
topics:
Movies, Iraq
