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Make It Happen
REVIEWER – PAUL BRAND
Just in time to bum a lift on the current So You Think You Can Dance bandwagon, comes the latest in a long line of formulaic films lending testament to the power of dance. After the likes of, Centre Stage (2000), Save the Last Dance (2001), Honey (2003), Step Up (2006) and Step Up 2: The Streets (2008), can the latest entry, Make It Happen (2008) possibly have anything different to offer us? Well, let’s check all the obligatory boxes.
Impossibly attractive twenty-somethings abound – CHECK.
Buffed bodies – CHECK.
Frenetically choreographed dance sequences – CHECK.
Angst – CHECK.
Sweat – CHECK.
So far, so routine.
Regardless of how Make It Happen subsequently piques the attention span of its target audience - what sets it apart from its predecessors? Well for starters, the multi-talented and highly watchable Mary Elizabeth Winstead is front and centre here as protagonist Lauryn, putting to electric use her real-life dancing pedigree. Appearing in a version of The Nutcracker as a child, she went on to study jazz, ballet and acting at New York’s Joffrey Ballet School before being tied to Donny Osmond’s Broadway production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
In the years in between, Winstead has appeared in films as diverse as Live Free or Die Hard (aka Die Hard 4.0 for Aussie audiences) (2007), and Quentin Tarantino’s criminally underrated tribute to Seventies exploitation cinema, Grindhouse: Death Proof (2007). Here, returning to her hoofer roots, Winstead settles into her part with relative ease and is something of a joy to behold.
But it is the focus on the sensually artistic world of burlesque that mixes things up here and adds that hint of titillation and spice so desperately lacking in other films of this nature. Dita Von Teese would be impressed! After bombing at a Chicago dance academy, Lauryn finds herself working in a club headlining burlesque acts and before long is strutting her stuff with voyeuristic aplomb. And, without giving too much away, is reminded of the power of dreams and belief in one’s self. Dare I add, “yada-yada-yada”?
Director Darren Grant, whose only other major claim to fame is the awkward Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005), handles the dance routines admirably, infusing just enough raunch and sexuality to make the PG rating questionable. It is also pleasing to note that, at bang-on 90 minutes, this voyage of self-discovery resists the urge to overstay its welcome.
All in all, the target audience, which I strongly suspect will be comprised predominantly of anyone studying dance, will eat this up with a spoon and spend hours dissecting it afterwards over isotonic drinks and sweaty leotards. For me, however, the dance movie never really evolved much beyond Flashdance (1983) and Footloose (1984). Ah, the good old days!
Release Date: 4th September, 2008
Rating: PG
Length: 90 mins
Director: Darren Grant
Screenplay: Duane Adler
Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Julissa Bermudez, Leigh Enns, Terry Ray
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Language: English
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