By Tasha Chemplavil
How She Move
**
Rutina Wesley, Dwain Murphy, Tre Armstrong
Directed by Ian Iqbal Rashid
Rated PG-13
Opens Friday
After a sibling’s death, a teenager uses supreme stepping skills to win a dance competition. No, it’s not Stomp the Yard, but How She Move’s story is too similar not to draw the comparison. There are differences in the plot—Move’s Raya (played by Las Vegas Academy alumna Wesley) is a medical-school-bound go-getter who’s trying to win a scholarship for a fancy private school, while Stomp’s DJ is a street hustler trying to forget his brother’s death by enrolling at a Georgia university—but any minor dissimilarities are quickly forgotten thanks to the movies’ preference for stepping over storytelling.
In an effort to escape her crime-ridden neighborhood, Raya joins up with a local all-male step group hoping to become the first coed team to win the ultimate step contest, Stepmonster. Unfortunately, Raya bulldozes over the people who try to help her, quickly losing any sympathy she may have garnered from her unlucky circumstances. Newcomer Wesley plays the character fairly well. She sometimes slips in and out of her Caribbean accent, but overall imbues Raya with the combination of determination and desperation she needs to triumph. Still, Wesley is a far better dancer than she is an actor. While she shows promise for the future, she took on a starring role before being fully ripe for the screen.
However, the quality of the acting is hardly the reason to watch How She Move. People want to see step, and this film is a showcase for its dancers. Some history behind the dance form, à la Stomp the Yard, would have enhanced the experience for those not familiar with the world of step, but you don’t need to know about the moves to appreciate the beauty of the choreography.
Since the stale story is secondary to the stepping, How She Move would have benefited from forgoing the fiction altogether in favor of a documentary about the steposphere. Most of the “actors” are dancers anyway, and an insider’s look into their competitions accompanied by footage of their routines would make a far more compelling film. Filmmakers, be advised: Forget the fiction. Stick to the step.