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Take the Lead | 2006 | PG-13 | - 5.5.5

Antonio Banderas stars as a ballroom dance teacher who volunteers to help the "misfits" in an inner-city school by teaching them to do ballroom dancing during detention. His job is not easy initially since his lessons are considered a form of detention. But he convinces himself that the students are worth the effort, and he perseveres. Also with Rob Brown, Yaya DaCosta, Dante Basco and John Ortiz. Directed by Liz Friedlander. [1:48]

SEX/NUDITY 5 - A man tries to force himself on a young woman while waiting for her mother to return home (her mother apparently sells sex to men).
 A man and a young woman dance the tango with sensual moves and gestures, they caress each other (the young woman's outfit reveals cleavage, thighs and back), and young men and young women watch the dance with great interest. Young men and young women dance in a club and in a few other scenes, using sensual and suggestive moves. A young man and a young woman kiss.
 A young man grabs a young woman's hips and thrusts toward her making a crude sexual gesture. A young man puts his hands down his pants making a crude sexual gesture.
 A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals cleavage, young women wear low-cut and short tops that reveal cleavage and bare abdomens, and men and women dress for an evening out and the women's outfits reveal cleavage and bare shoulders.
 A woman appears to be attracted to a man, and a young woman tells the man that the woman is interested in him. There are several discussions of the sensuality of certain types of dance.

VIOLENCE/GORE 5 - A young man holds a gun to a man's head.
 A man and a young man fight, and one is punched in the face three times. A man hits his teenage son in the face, the son shoves the man against the wall holding his throat, and then walks out. A young man punches another young man in the face.
 A man tries to force himself on a young woman while waiting for her mother to return home (her mother apparently sells sex to men).
 A young man pounds on a car repeatedly using a golf club, the alarm goes off, and the young man runs into the street, where he is struck by a car, but he gets up and runs away.
 A young man shoves a man. A young man is shoved against a wall and forced to leave a party. A young man and a young woman fight, and they yell and shove each other.
 A man talks about his wife dying. We hear that two young men were killed during a drug deal gone badly. A woman talks about students fighting and killing each other.
 An entrance to a school has security guards and metal detectors. Young men steal stereo equipment.
 A man vomits in a toilet and then in a sink where a young man's shirt is, and the shirt is stained.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word derivative, 7 sexual references, 8 scatological terms, 19 anatomical terms, 20 mild obscenities, 3 religious profanities.

SUBSTANCE USE - There are discussions of young people being drug dealers and users but none are shown using drugs. A man is asleep on a couch holding a large bottle of alcohol. It is said that a man is an alcoholic. Wine glasses are visible in a couple of social gatherings.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Dance, respect for yourself and others, courtesy, justice, anger, bitterness, forgiveness, manners, social classes, racism, responsibility, gambling, choices, rejection, ulterior motives, recklessness, robbery, inspiration, goals, commitment, grief, death of siblings, death of spouse, death of a child, inner city existence, school rejects.

MESSAGE - Love and music are universal. Everyone should allow themselves to do something well.

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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