How She Move

2008
3.6| 1h34m| PG-13| en
Details

After the death of Raya Green's sister, she gets out from her classes at school, and sees a stomp crew practicing. She meets Bishop which is the dance crew leader. She then meets Michelle and does a stomp battle with her. They become enemies then friends later on. Her uptight mom pushes her to pass the test to get into Medical school, but she thinks she failed....

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Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
bob the moo You know what? I'm staying off the message boards on this one because I'm not looking to get into the debate over why this film is so poorly rated on IMDb. It does confuse me to hear those classing it "worst film ever" discussing it as generic and bland, nothing but a version of countless other films – so why, if it is so bland and generic is it in the IMDb bottom 100 at the time of writing? I'll let others say "racism" because I don't think it is that – although I do think that it is perhaps a cultural thing. I've never really understood the whole idea of "krunking" or "stepping" or whatever it is called (whenever us white people know a slang word it immediately changes!) and would struggle not to feel silly if I was to do it. However I do love the b-boy stuff and breaking and there is a fine line between them.Why this culture of impressive dance moves and physical discipline is mocked by the mainstream while cheerleading is seen as an All-American experience I'm not sure – again I'll leave it to the boards to debate whether it is racism or just a cultural thing but it is odd that this film is rather lower than things similar. I say this because I do not see a massively poor film – and trust me, I have seen some massively poor films in my time and I do not see how IMDb users can rate this lower than the significantly worse "You Got Served". Now don't get me wrong because I'm not building myself up to a gushing review full of praise, because this film is not brilliant – it is just not anywhere near as bad as people say, in fact it is OK.The plot is fairly straightforward and generic but it benefits from having a lead character that I cared about in Raya. Her situation is obvious and I won't defend the sweep of the film because it does tread a genre path but it is made better by several things. First and foremost the dance routines are very good. They are not the hyper-edited promo pieces of You Got Served but are presented in small clubs, bare stages and with a clean approach from camera that allows us to see what is happening. I'm not sure why they cannot be appreciated for what they are but I really enjoyed them and found myself exclaiming "wow" involuntarily several times towards the end. OK visually the rest of the film is quite basic, this comes with the budget and it is not "ugly" so much as it is more television standard than cinema.The second selling point is Wesley's turn as Raya. Here we have an actress and a character who is not really the best choice if you are making a genre film. She is smart, doesn't talk street and, to be frank, is very dark skinned. Put it another way – she is not the person I would want to be marketing the film off the back of. However what she can do is emote convincingly and I found her acting chops to be just as good as her moves (which are good). She is charismatic and engaging and she covers for the many clichés surrounding her. Armstrong isn't as good nor did I need Davis and Cole turning up as themselves but these are the type of things that make the film "OK" rather than good.How She Move is not Citizen Kane but it is not the worst film ever made either. Yes it is a genre film and it is weaker than I would like in regards plot and writing but it is still an OK film. The dance moves are impressive and well delivered and Wesley emotes well in delivering a believable and sympathetic character, which made all the difference to me.
newatt-2 I watch them all.It's not better than the amazing ones (_Strictly Ballroom_, _Shall we dance?_ (Japanese version), but it's completely respectable and pleasingly different in parts.I am an English teacher and I find some of the ignorance about language in some of these reviews rather upsetting. For example: the "name should scream don't watch. 'How she move.' Since when can movie titles ignore grammar?" There is nothing inherently incorrect about Caribbean English grammar. It's just not Canadian standard English grammar. Comments about the dialogue seem off to me. I put on the subtitles because I'm a Canadian standard English speaker, so I just AUTOMATICALLY assumed that I would have trouble understanding all of it. It wasn't all that difficult and it gave a distinctly different flavour as the other step movies I have seen were so American.I loved that this movie was set in Toronto and, in fact, wish it was even more clearly set there. I loved that the heroine was so atypically cast. I enjoyed the stepping routines. I liked the driven Mum character. I felt that many of the issues in the movie were addressed more subtly than is characteristic of dance movies.In summary, if you tend to like dance movies, then this is a decent one. If you have superiority issues about the grammar of the English standard you grew up speaking, your narrow mind may have difficulty enjoying this movie.
Roland E. Zwick "How She Moves" springs to life only when its high-energy, talented cast members are kicking up their heels and strutting their stuff for the camera. Otherwise, this stale strive-suffer-and-succeed story is low on energy, low on originality, and low on anything that might make the movie stand out from the dozens of other, likeminded films that have come before it.Rutina Wesley has modest appeal as the academically gifted inner-city youngster who finds that the best way to raise her private school tuition money is by entering step-dance competitions, but both she and her fellow actors are poorly served by uninspired screen writing and undistinguished direction. As noted earlier, the movie achieves some spark when the performers are up on stage dancing, but such moments are far too few and sadly fleeting.
colinbarnard-1 This film represents every aspiring Canadian performance artist's dream- the chance to be noticed in the United States. To facilitate this ambition, all levels of Canadian Government funnel huge amounts of money to Canadian talent so that they can create vehicles to hock their wares south of the border. Nevermind that the work itself seldom represents the land or the people it comes from."How She Move" is a curious creature, a Canadian film that actually doesn't try to be set in America, or be about Americans. Notice my choice of words, though- it is an absence of a negative, not an outright positive. Even though Brooklin and Baltimore are mentioned directly by name, and a large section of the film is set (though not filmed) in Detroit, the only references to Canada are oblique: "T-Dot" "Scarborough" and "Jane Street Junta". Too bad the average American film-goer has no idea what those terms mean.Even the one shot of Canadian money is the backside of our $20.00 bill, the one Canadian banknote that is the same colour as the US Greenback.The settings are generic North American urban ghetto, with the high irony of the actual Jane-Finch corridor exterior shots not being gritty enough to pretend they have street cred, so the film crew travels to Hamilton Ontario to ramp up the film's "ghettoness". Not one exterior establishing shot to proudly proclaim "This is Canada".At least the interior shots of the characters homes are authentic and ring true to some tenements in the Jane-Finch area.The film even downplays the Caribbean origins of most of the characters, but not to any degree that it downplays its Canadian-ness. But, "downplay" is not "ignore" and there are many subtle references that only someone familiar with the Caribbean colony in Toronto would understand. And I use the phrase "Caribbean Colony" with deliberate purpose.The story itself is generic to many American films of the same ilk. It is still a valid story, in a sense, since various methods of uplift have always been aspirations of marginalized communities. It is as true in Toronto as any other city in North America.And the story is told with uncommon passion and integrity, from the characters' and actors' levels.What really shines in this film is the showcase of Toronto talent. To be sure, all this talent would love to kiss Canada goodbye for a lucrative career in the U.S., but they grew up here, and here is where they are currently shining! That too is part of Canadian culture, but no American would understand that.To my American friends, I mean no slight- I personally think you are big enough to embrace a true Canadian story if it has the production values that you are used to in your cinema. The mavens in Hollywood are so conservative though that you continue to get spoon-fed pap, and only rarely are you served true art with a degree of risk attached. When films have to make back a $150 Million budget, the owners of that money tend to be risk adverse! This film is getting a wide release in the United States. MTV Films has had a hand in it's financing or distribution, hence the reason why its Canadian-ness is being downplayed. But, in 2008, this is the best Canada can do in bringing its stories to you...by making them seem like YOUR stories.What a timid little country Canada is! Couldn't any of my tax money put one Canadian flag in a scene? A real TTC bus? A shot of CW Jefferies Collegiate? A Jane Street or Driftwood Avenue street sign? How much risk is there in that?