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Dance Flick | 2009 | PG-13 | - 6.6.4

A young ballerina (Shoshana Bush) who has given up on dance, meets a young hip hop dancer (Damon Wayans, Jr.) at her new high school and begins to dream of dancing again. He tries to teach her hip-hop while preparing himself for a big street dance competition, and the young woman and her friends help in surprising ways. Also with Essence Atkins, Affion Crockett, David Alan Grier, Amy Sedaris, Chris Elliot, Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans. Directed by Damien Wayans. [1:25]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - Throughout the film a female dance teacher is dressed in tight stretch pants that clearly show large bulging genital lips; in one scene the camera pans to a close up and we see the covered genital lips moving.
 During a hip hop dance contest, a young woman removes her slacks to reveal red shorts and does a suggestive pole dance with gyrations and leg splits in the air (her bare thighs as well as cleavage are seen) and jumps into a male schoolmate's arms. A female gym coach forces two of her female basketball players to Jell-O wrestle in gym shorts and T-shirts while she takes bets on who will win (we see legs and thighs and some cleavage as the girls roll in Jell-O). Two young women in tank tops that reveal bare arms and significant cleavage dance while shaking their breasts and hips furiously, their breasts sag to the floor, their buttocks sag to their knees, and they leave the dance floor amid gasps from the crowd.
 Two teen boys wearing short shorts roller skate in a dance contest, the first lifts the second over his head in a split position and we see two shining ornaments hanging from his groin (they look like testicles). A teen boy and a teen girl are dressed in white tights and black leotards and the camera closes in on gyrating hips and thighs several times. In a club, a group of male dancers grab their groin areas twice during a dance.
 A guidance counselor in a school tells a teen boy and a teen girl not to use a condom in the hallway because the boy won't be able to feel anything (the couple is embracing and kissing and the counselor begins dancing and grinding her hips). A teen girl is asked to take a breathalyzer test by a male police officer; he asks her to "blow into the machine," she kneels down as if about to perform oral sex and the officer pulls her back to the standing position.
 Several young men wearing scarves dance, they remove their jeans to reveal ballet tights, and they dance into the street singing "I'm gonna watch you undress... I'm gonna be gay forever"; three firemen remove their helmets and coats and dance with them, two businessmen run up to the group and join the dance and a truck driver also stops to join the dancing men.
 A woman wears a torn, tight Cat Woman costume that reveals a bit of her cleavage, abdomen and thighs. In several dance club scenes, women wear halter-tops that reveal cleavage and bare backs, and several women wear sheer dresses and we see outlines of legs and panties. In several scenes a woman and a teen girl reveal significant cleavage with low-cut tops.
 A male acting teacher asks if a teen boy is willing to lose his manhood for his art, and kisses him and says he lost his own manhood twice for his art. A teen boy asks his basketball coach dad if he ever wanted to try anything different, and the dad says, "You want to be bonkin' hookers." A teen boy tells his girlfriend that he wants to be a "vagina-cologist" and mentions 5 types of vaginas he likes to examine. An unwed teenage mom tells a friend that her baby won't wear a condom at school and that's why he has an itching groin. A basketball coach tries to tell his team to think but instead yells, "Head… give me some," and then he tells the boys to think as they "Get naked in the showers." A woman dances with a man and suggests they have another baby; the man quickly disappears, leaving his shoes on the floor.

VIOLENCE/GORE 6 - A male dancer in a contest break-dances and sticks his head up his own anus; he is wearing sweat pants and a sweatshirt and we see no flesh and he walks away in this contorted position to end the scene. A pregnant woman sits on a dance floor and grimaces, something shoots out from the bottom of her dress, the camera cuts to the faces of others who look shocked, we see an umbilical cord stretch across the floor and then disappear into thin air, and we see a baby covered with slime slide on the floor, tilt its head and cross its legs as it if were finished break dancing.
 We see a woman driving a van with Death in a shroud holding a scythe in the back seat, and he says, "You're gonna die"; the van flips onto its top in front of a jackknifed gas tanker that is leaking onto the highway, she screams, she crawls out and is struck by three separate SUVs that toss her into the air, after which she smacks face down onto the highway (we do not see injuries or blood, but the last time she sails through the air, she lands in an open grave).
 During a dance, two teams of dancers begin shoving and punching one another and the surrounding crowd begins punching each other as well (we do not see any injuries or blood). A teacher slaps a male student in the face, and other students hold the teen back as he fumes. A young man tells a young woman that hip-hop dance is aggressive, he bumps into her, she returns the bump, he punches her, he jumps on top of her twice and slugs her off screen (we hear the hits), and then asks if she has had enough (we see no blood or injury as she gets up but she limps when leaving the room).
 A man tosses a teen boy out of a door because he did not react to a kiss from the man. A man makes a gesture with one finger across his throat as if to say, "You're dead" toward a teen who has been in a fight.
 At a dance club, a man becomes excited when he hears his favorite song, picks up an empty liquor bottle, breaks it over a dancing woman's head, she sways briefly and continues to dance. In a flashback, a ballerina dances in her living room accidentally knocking down or kicking several people.
 A teen boy pulls a handgun and points it to the temple of a man who is trying to cheat him; then many other handguns are pointed at the man when he tries to cheat others (no one is shot). A singer in a club sings for the crowd to hold up 20s, 50s, and 100s, and then pulls out a gun and steals the money.
 A dance teacher insults new girls in her class, she calls names and tells one that she should commit suicide; the girl cries out, runs to a closed window, and jumps through it with a loud crash (we do not see or hear what happens to her). A young man dances feverishly in the rain (he has an extremely snotty nose), lightning strikes him and we see burned and smoking clothing, his smudged face, and his hair smoking and standing on end.
 A young woman is shown with a chain around her waist, which is held by a young man; she runs away and stops short when she reaches the end of the chain. A male youth break dances and spins on his back, he spins faster and faster, lifts off the floor and flies through a skylight, breaking it with a crash. A dancer spins on his head, a challenger pours oil behind him, the first dancer slides out of the dance hall, bumps down steps (still on his head) outside the building, and slides down the sidewalk to the street (still on his head); he then slides across an intersection as another man slides across from another direction (also on his head). An overweight man bounces as he walks and sings of food; he appears at a hip-hop dance contest and dances, knocking people out of the way with his bulk, crashing onto the floor, leaving three giant craters in the concrete, and finally smashing his opponent flat as a pancake (he gets up and we see a flattened man, still talking and seemingly not in pain).
 We see a scene from a DVD of a slave who cuts off his own foot to show honor to his master and we see him hold up an artificial foot and lower leg that looks like a ham with a human foot.
 A male teen break dances in a contest on a gym floor, slides over to an opponent waiting to dance, and urinates all over him (we see the urine). In a dance practice scene, a high school girl jumps into the arms of a school janitor, passes gas, and he throws her onto the floor (we hear her fall but do not see what happened). We see a teen boy with horribly crooked, dirty teeth. An audience member throws a cream pie in an exotic dancer's face. An overweight woman on a train pulls a chicken leg from her cleavage and eats it. A man throws trays of food against the walls and onto the floor in anger after meeting with people who owe him money. A homeless man in a filthy coat shows his daughter a squatter's apartment that is filled with garbage and debris and has a taped outline of a body and a gun on the floor. Many scenes show ghetto tenement houses with garbage bags all over. Two overweight children smash a teen girl against a train window accidentally, they stick their lollipops onto her face and hair and we see that they have written, "Punch me" on her forehead.
 A blind teen boy falls into an open manhole (we do not see injuries). A woman screams and drops hot coffee in her lap after her blind son removes his dark glasses and reveals smears of salve over his eyes.
 A 21-year old mother attending high school hangs her 6-month old baby in her locker and goes to class (we see his scared eyes looking out the door slats). A woman drops her baby out of her 4th story apartment window, grabs and catches him before he hits the ground and brings him back inside. A woman takes her baby to a bar and shows friends that he is carrying a large handgun strapped to his hand under his blanket.
 Three young men talk about doing a drive by shooting, but decide against it. A hip-hop music number speaks of street life in a series of name-calling sequences. A teen boy tells his girlfriend that God hates her because her mother died on the way to her dance recital, so she really killed her mother, and the girl cries. A dance team argues about a dangerous move.
 A man says his name is Edward Triggerhands and shows a friend that the first two fingers on each hand are composed of a long gun barrel. Three times, henchmen pick people up in a limousine to see their boss; the henchmen look dangerous, but no one is hurt.
 A white teen girl makes herself up in blackface makeup and later, her black boyfriend wears whiteface makeup and face glitter. A dance club is called Club Violence.

LANGUAGE 4 - 5 scatological references, 13 anatomical references, 12 sexual references, 20 mild obscenities, 2 religious profanities, 3 religions exclamations, name-calling (fool, stupid, blind, whale, bush hair, Afro hair, Dumbo, corny, nappy headed ho's, cows, lady killer, thugs, pied piper, wannabes, punk), many stereotypical comments about whites, Asians, Armenians, Chinese, gays, and African Americans as Uncle Toms.

SUBSTANCE USE - In a pool hall men and women smoke and drink beer and other drinks, a homeless man drinks alcohol from a flask, in several dance club scenes we see bottles of beer on tables, and a man in a bar buys an alcoholic drink and feeds it to his baby son (he is in a carrier on his mother's back and we see the man reach the glass around to his baby and hear the baby drink and burp). In a flashback scene, a young woman remembers sitting in a car, a police officer asks if she has been drinking, she opens the door and beer and beer bottles pour out onto the street, and he gives her a breathalyzer test, finding the highest possible level of alcohol.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Parodies, urban hip-hop culture, guns, professional dancing, friendship, death, contests, grudges, respect, pregnancy and childbirth, parenting, winning.

MESSAGE - Anyone can win a contest.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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