You know how people say about musicals "oh, it's just a bunch of singing for no reason?" This is that, but dancing and violin.
First, the pros:
The movie was visually very nice (except for the choice to include strobing lights, which people should really stop doing). The dance sequences were amazing and fun. The climax involved a plot point I didn't see coming. The characters of the hip hop group are great (especially Pop-Tart). The protagonist is likable. There's this whole Fame vibe going on with the Manhattan conservatory. Jane Seymour is in it.
Cons:
Johnnie is terrible, and at no point did I want Ruby to end up with him. The movie wants to give us dark and brooding, but instead he either :
1. is outright rude to Ruby
2. Comes on EXTREMELY strong, in a very creepy way.
They also have no chemistry. The lead dancer in the troupe, Hayward, has more chemistry with Ruby in the few minutes they're on screen together than Johnnie and Ruby do in the whole movie, to the point that I briefly rooted for Hayward and Ruby to kiss.
The dance sequences are all long and basically don't move the plot, at least one lacks explanation (although to some extent the inexplicability was something that kept me going). This movie has very little plot.
The whole plot with the roommate, Jazzy, is never really explained or settled (were we supposed to take that whole thing at face value? That ending felt way too neat, in real life there would definitely be an underlying reason why she did what she did). The movie couldn't quite keep up with the amount of characters it had.
There's a point where two women giggle and squeal and hit each other with pillows, which... look, I haven't met every woman in the world, but grown women who have just met usually don't behave this way.
Watch if you want to watch some really cool dancing, skip if you want to watch a movie for the plot.
