thePeanutBloggery

If you’ve seen Drumline, there’s absolutely no need to bother seeing Stomp the Yard. Simply an excuse to showcase stepping, the latter is the story of DJ (Columbus Short), a talented street dancer, whose brother is murdered when a dance competition turns into a fight. DJ moves to Atlanta to live with his aunt and uncle and to attend a Morris Brown type college, where the fraternities compete in annual stepping competitions. Or to make it simpler, if you remove the drums from Drumline and add stepping, you get Stomp the Yard.

However, while Drumline was mediocre, this film is utterly forgettable. Sometimes you go to a movie knowing the story is going to be unimportant (the plot here is formulaic with an ending that’s clichéd to the point of humor), and the acting is going to be unexceptional (I cared so little about the characters, I could only remember DJ’s name when it was over); instead you go to be dazzled by the theatrics (e.g. Center Stage and Happy Feet). Unfortunately, there’s no dazzle here. The dance is disappointingly unimpressive. For awhile the dizzying handheld camera effect had me hypnotized into believing what the characters were saying (DJ is the best dancer, Sylvester’s moves are old school, DJ’s moves are cutting edge), but by the end, I realized I couldn’t actually see this for myself.

Did I like anything about this movie? There is one cool move (which I saw numerous times during the trailer) where a young man slides in slow motion across the stage on his back and rises up onto his forearm with his legs straight in the air. I’ve provided an image of the pose, so you don’t feel compelled to buy a ticket just for this. I wouldn’t want to make you sit through what I hope is the worst film I see all year.