Review of Step Up 3D (2010) by Shiira — 11 Aug 2010

They're only garbage can lids, but it's her garbage can lids; an old woman, outside, sweeping her brownstone front, whom Moose(Adam G. Sevani) and Camille(Allyson Stone) taunt, as these NYU students disturb the aluminum covers before throwing them to the ground, once they outlive their usefulness as appropriated percussions.

The kids owe the townie an apology, but with Fred Astaire's "I Won't Dance"(from William Seiter's "Roberta") playing over the soundtrack, their sense of entitlement is easy to overlook.

But it's there. The archaic music, dislocated from its period, in conjunction with the New York setting, can't help but conjure up Woody Allen, who employs pre-rock-and-roll music in all of his films, and fancies the intellectual upper-class.

Arguably, this seemingly harmless encounter is a case of class warfare. And their hubris doesn't stop there, as Moose and Camille help themselves to a pair of in-line scooters, no doubt angering its young owners, turned off by the flippant affectedness of these hoofin' strangers, who heave the wheels across the sidewalk with practiced nonchalance.

Appropriately enough, the song and dance begins at a Mister Softee truck, since Moose and Camille owe these children(and the old woman) some frosty treats, as payment for the minor vandalism brought upon the quiet block, due to their self-involvement.

Moose, an engineering major, can't concentrate on his studies, because Luke(Rick Malambri), a budding filmmaker, has no qualms in pulling his protege out of classes, perhaps, out of jealousy; perhaps, he yearns to be a film major, and not the financeer of a lame dance troupe.