Looks cool... But would it have killed them to add an "s"?

I have a love/hate relationship with dance movies. I simply wanted to express where I'm coming from before I give my two cents about the new release that is plastered on the MySpace login page - "How She Move". (I'll save my opinions on "Meet The Spartans" and "Semi-Pro" after the paid critics roast both, well done or burnt.)

Long before "Dirty Dancing" swept me off my feet (then made me gag a few years later), I was mesmerized (and then nauseated) by "Flashdance". What a feelin'! No offense against my sister Jennifer Beals (who shines in "The L Word"), but she wasn't winning any academy awards with her first starring role in a feature film. But I thought her day gig as a welder was hot. Feminist hot, believable to the average blue collar worker or not... But this blog isn't about "Norma Rae" - it's about dance movies. A year later there was the modern dance masterpiece "Breakin'". And who can forget the urban legend sequel, "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo"? I tried breakdancing for a while, but my career never took off after being dissed by my family during a dance-off with my sister. There's a laundry list of them, the dance movies we love or hate - or both - from the forbidden waste of dance fad flick "Lambada", to my all-time favorite that revels in underdog feel-goodness, "Strictly Ballroom". And I'm not ashamed to admit "Save The Last Dance" is in my DVD collection. It's ironically bold that MTV recycled this plot, featuring a young black female lead on the screen.

But when I first watched the preview for "How She Move" on television, I couldn't help but hear the "ch-ching" of cash registers (do they still make that sound?) and my high school English teacher Mrs. Gonzales sighing in exasperation. And it made my heart lurch. Street slang now pervades pop culture, and this culture - our culture- loudly proclaims that it's alright to be grammatically incorrect. No - it's the cool thing to do. Nevermind all the connotations of racism and illiteracy, two things a lot of people loathe. At least in my house.

Well, I'll never be one of the cool kids, spouting urban street slang even if I'm suburban or rural offspring. That time has passed, so I can be that corny old broad who insists your kids get off the street and play in their own backyards.

Would it kill them - the writer(s), director, producer(s), and post-production - to have added an "s" to the title? "How She Move" definitely grabs your attention. You read it and say it to yourself just once. You sound like a street hustler, or most likely a wannabe urban white hipster with one black friend. (Yeah, I went there.) Now say it with the "s". "How She Moves" doesn't sound so bad. It still flows like a rappers rhyme. Maybe it's a little softer... Too soft? Too romantic?


Almost makes you want to watch MTV again, right old folks?

As I write this critique, the words sounding off in my head, I wonder if the filmmakers were having the same debate.

I'm not admitting defeat about the "s". I'm sure the movie would still find an audience. I'm just not sure if that audience would be teenagers with expendable cash, searching for the freshest dance moves to bring to the Valentine's Day dance, or Prom floor. If they would have added the "s", would the majority of the audience be older men escorting women on dates?

The world may never know.

Here's the IMDB.com description of "She Hate Me" - I mean "How She Move": "Following her sister's death from drug addiction, a high school student is forced to leave her private school to return to her old, crime-filled neighborhood where she re-kindles an unlikely passion for the competitive world of step dancing."

Here's my one sentence review: A black teenager exiled from suburbia searches for social acceptance with her old neighborhood's step team.

And here's the trailer for "How She Move", which opens today in theaters across the U.S.A.:



Enjoy the movies this weekend, whatever you watch.

~ DIY Danna