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A straight-A high student scrambles to become a hip-hop dancer for her college application in this Netflix dance movie that pays homage to the genre.
By Natalia Winkelman
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In the middling dance movie “Work It,” now on Netflix, Quinn (Sabrina Carpenter) is a straight-A senior desperate to attend her dream university, Duke. So desperate, in fact, that when her college interviewer expresses an appreciation for dance, Quinn pretends it’s her passion, too. To keep up the ruse, she cobbles together a ragtag hip-hop troupe and starts to train. She’s a quick learner; how hard can it be to keep a rhythm?
This silly, predictable setup — which hinges on an elaborate misunderstanding of how college admissions work — grows less important as the story wears on and the dancing takes center stage. Our stars in this regard are Quinn’s best friend Jas (Liza Koshy), who heads the impromptu crew, and Jake (Jordan Fisher), a cute hotshot who becomes Quinn’s private instructor and, inevitably, her crush. As Quinn freestyles with Jas or twirls with Jake, they find dance floors in improvised, outdoor spaces, giving the performances an off-the-cuff look. Both Koshy and Fisher are accomplished professional dancers, and the movie doesn’t skimp on showcasing their gifts.
Dance movies, when successful, are contagious. You want to stand up and flail out the moves. Directed by Laura Terruso, “Work It” trades in this allure; by featuring a clumsy amateur who learns to let loose, it invites us to flounder alongside.
The movie also offers an amiable awareness of its tropes: As Quinn’s squad preps for a grand competition, called Work It, she cites her research of dance movies while Jas wishes they could hire a “young Channing Tatum” to choreograph. “Work It” is no “Step Up,” but its best sequences involve Jake and Quinn, who share a chemistry in motion that, for a beat or two, conjures the genre’s magic.
Work ItNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. Watch on Netflix.
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