Step Up 2 the Streets

Directed by Jon M. Chu, this step-dance musical is ostensibly a sequel to 2006’s Step Up. But just as Step Up was a rehash of Save the Last Dance with less interesting leads, so this one bears a too-close resemblance to How She Move. Once again, the new girl in an unfamiliar school (here, Briana Evigan) tries to earn an education while expressing her own individuality through dance—and catching the eye of the hot guy on campus (Robert Hoffman). The two films are too close together to cry ripoff, but this one suffers from the comparison; it’s slicker and more trite, and the dancing isn’t bad, but not as good as in Move. “I feel like I’m in an episode of The Hills,” says Evigan at one point. Well, no; more like a Flashdance wannabe, with editing, rain and darkness obscuring the body-double dancers.