Diversity dance-off! or a review of ‘Take the Lead’
CVK
The Toledo Blade trashes the new Dangerous-Minds-meets-Sister-Act-meets-Dirty-Dancing-Havana-Nights Antonio Banderas vehicle, ‘Take the Lead.’
I’m totally gonna rent this when it comes out on DVD (like, a week from now). As Jen can attest, there’s nothing I love more than a good dance-off. Loved ‘You Got Served’ and was hoping to enjoy ‘Roll Bounce’ but there was way too much dialogue and character development. 
‘Take The Lead,’ however, sounds awesomely bad. From the forbidden interracial relationship (gotta love the subtlety of naming the black guy “Monster”) to the endless parade of high school archetypes… Plus, Yaya from Top Model is in it! Clearly she’s the new Lauryn Hill. (Hill was in Sister Act, or Sister Act 2, for those of you who are too young to remember that cinematic classic.)
It’s the kind of flick where interracial understanding is taught with a cute romance between a large, gentle black man and small, timid white girl - but it doesn’t stop there: The black man is Monster and the white girl is Caitlin. Plus, she’s a Caitlin preparing for a cotillion…
But then Antonio doesn’t have actual students, either. He has an acting seminar. He inherits Fame: The Next Generation. Or maybe it’s those kids who bounce around McDonald’s commercials shouting “I’m lovin’ it!” I doubt these kids haven’t heard of Lena Horne; I bet some of them have the same agent. It’s as if they’d been sitting in detention waiting for the inspirational movie teacher of the week to come along and get them involved in symphony or competitive art design or championship spelunking - anything but sports.
John wrote:
It’s annoying that at my age, I still get carded.
I wonder if Dante Basco hates that 30 years later, he’s still being cast as a teen…
PS- Have you seen “The Debut”? There’s a mild dance-off in there for ya, CVK.
Posted 11 Apr 2006 at 9:36 pm ¶
caroline wrote:
I know that the critics haven’t LOVED this movie, but I think that the quoted review went a little overboard with its analysis. The interracial couple in the movie were attracted to each other because they were the misfits in their respective environments. The reason why the black kid was called “Monster” is because he was enormous in size, and no one called him that name out of malice. So to imply that the nickname somehow implied that he was some kind of predator on the small white girl Caitlin, seems pretty forced, as if the reviewer was adamantly looking for racist messages in the movie.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 10:35 am ¶
Merq wrote:
Caroline:
Racist messages are seldom overt. The fact that King Kong wasn’t called “Black Man Raping White Woman” doesn’t detract from its racist message.
I haven’t seen “Take the Lead” (nor do I intend to), so I can’t comment on this specific case, but I think it’s just another in the long line of white-hero-goes-into-the-”inner city”-and-saves-some-minority-kids movies. Sure, this time they have the token white kid, but it’s just the same in my book.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 10:59 am ¶
site admin wrote:
John - no I haven’t seen “The Debut.” I’ll check it out! Thanks for the tip!
CVK
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 11:03 am ¶
caroline wrote:
Merq: You should probably see the movie first before making judgements. Yes, I realize that some racist messages aren’t always obvious, however, in this specific case, I don’t believe that the message was a racist one. Let me know what you think AFTER you actually see the movie, Merq. Otherwise, it’s probably best to save the commentary.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 12:40 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:
Caroline - I think that what Merq is trying to say is that he HAS seen THIS movie…only with different actors and characters with different names.
Naming the “big black guy” Monster and the “little white girl” Caitlin is not subtle, it’s blatantly racist. Using this timeworn tactic is an indicator that this movie is nothing more than trash. The premise itself is trite and hackneyed.
Is Julia Stiles playing Caitlin?
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 2:31 pm ¶
caroline wrote:
Again, it’s probably best to reserve judgement until you have actually seen the movie. Relying on other people’s reviews to form your opinions is irresponsible.
If you saw “Mad Hot Ballroom,” you would know that Pierre Dulane’s (who the Antonio Banderas character is based on) dancing program has had a great impact on many students in NYC public schools. I wouldn’t call improving students’ discipline and overall outlook on life “trite.”
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 3:13 pm ¶
Merq wrote:
Caroline:
I thought I made it clear that I wasn’t commenting on this specific case, although from what I saw, it SEEMED possible that it was a less than overt racist case. We may not agree, but don’t come in here with some attitude, sweetheart.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 3:19 pm ¶
caroline wrote:
I thought that we were having a relatively mature argument. All I was saying was that being well-informed is the first step to forming an opinion on anything. If you read my comments as having a negative “attitude,” perhaps calling me “sweetheart” can also be read as you having a negative “attitude.” So, take your own advice.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 4:02 pm ¶
sigh wrote:
^^ Here we go again.
Posted 12 Apr 2006 at 5:11 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:
I’m familiar w/ the doc (though have yet to see it-will queue it on Netflix). The movie seems to be “based on a true story” which means producers/director/writers will take all sorts of dramatic license w/ the story to make it palatable (i.e., profitable).
Yes, I do agree that one should see a movie before criticizing it. However, I reiterate - there is a “bigblackguy” named Monster in it. That says a whole lot.
Frankly, the whole “cultured outsider motivates/inspires/whips these ghetto kids into shape” genre (doc. or fiction) is trite.
& yes Caroline, your initial post had a nasty tone to it. Re-read it.
Posted 13 Apr 2006 at 7:28 am ¶
kim wrote:
“Nasty tone”?
Hardly. Especially when you read some of the “nasty” posts from other “sweethearts”.
Posted 13 Apr 2006 at 11:30 am ¶
caroline wrote:
Thanks Kim. My intention wasn’t to be nasty, but only to engage in an intelligent argument with well-informed people. Apologies if anyone has taken offense.
Posted 13 Apr 2006 at 4:05 pm ¶