The Streets proves you can't dance around a bad screen play

In the genre of dance movies, the recipe is generally as simple to make as microwave popcorn: bad acting slipped into a dance studio for a certain number of hours. Still, the concoction remains a guilty pleasure-Anne Fletcher's MTV-fueled film Step Up grossed $20.7 million in its first week. To satiate any lingering cravings left from the first movie, MTV took on the project for a second time, enlisting Jon Chu to direct Step Up 2 The Streets. Unfortunately, with this second attempt, Chu proves guilty pleasures, in excess, are never a good thing.

The Streets follows the cookie-cutter structure of basically every Save the Last Dance, U Got Served and Take the Lead ever made-kids from the wrong side of the tracks using their dancing abilities as motivation to pirouette, crump or backflip their way to the top.

The opening sequence, depicting a 30-second chronicle of street dance, shows tremendous promise, as main character Andie (Briana Evigan) explains how growing up in a poverty-stricken side of Baltimore rewarded her with a "front row seat to history." She describes the dance crews that developed in inner-city Baltimore, who competed at a famed underground competition called The Streets.

The story flash-forwards to 17-year-old Andie sitting uninterestedly on a Baltimore metro train, when all of a sudden a teenage boy flings on a mask and throws himself into a frenzy of hip-hop choreography. Andie and bystanders watch as more seemingly normal train riders-a nurse in scrubs, a suited businessman-toss on masks and join the kinetic fury of the dancers. In a blink, Andie also dons a mask and executes breathtaking, although irrational, dance moves involving flipping on poles and dodging over seated passengers. A troop of policemen hop on the train in a desperate attempt to seize the dancing nuisances, but the crew manages to lose the badge-wielding officers.

Through unrealistic, cheap dialogue, Andie and her friends reveal they are a notorious dance crew known throughout Baltimore called The 410. The group is headed by Tuck (Black Thomas), whose irrational temperament makes him resemble a dictator crossed with a bull dog rather than a dance crew leader. Andie hurries home, only to see The 410's display of public disturbance being broadcasted on the news before the eyes of her upset caregiver. Andie is given a lecture about how she will be sent to Texas for her behavior. To burn off steam, Andie sneaks into a club to dance her way to tranquility. Enter Andie's childhood brother-figure Tyler Gage (Channing Tatum).

Tatum's entrance is just a slight cameo. He managed to be charming in Step Up, but in the sequel, he loses all credibility whenever he opens his mouth. Through what seems more like a badly-made PSA for the Maryland School of the Arts (MSA), Gage tries to convince Andie to audition for the prestigious dance school that got him out of trouble. When Andie refuses, Gage challenges her to a dance battle, performed in the middle of the club that magically has trampolines inserted under its floorboards. Gage becomes drastically more likeable through his dancing, while Andie looks more like a mime than a hip-hop dancer as she throws up more hand signals in the air than actual choreography. After Gage rhythmically obliterates her in the battle, he convinces her caregiver to give Andie a second chance at MSA and informs Andie of her forthcoming audition.

MSA is painted as a professional bureaucracy headed by the same overly pretentious and pompous ballet teachers that graced the scenes of Save the Last Dance, who scorn Andie when she walks in clad in street clothes-or baggy jeans, a midriff-bearing top and a baseball cap.

The storyline following is nothing original-Andie shocks her pristine ballet teachers with her raw, hip-hop dancing and is urged to conform into a traditional dancer. While trying to fit in, Andie neglects The 410, who ostracize her from their team. She remains an outsider at MSA and is befriended only by the bizarrely interesting Moose (Adam G. Sevani).

Luckily, Andie also catches the eye of the school "all-star," Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman). Popularized by Nick Cannon's Wild N' Out, Hoffman shows off remarkable dance skills that have been featured on both the show and MTV's U Got Served. Hoffman's acting range stretches further than improv, but with unbearably clichéd lines, he doesn't get a chance to prove himself as anything more than a cute boy with hip-hop skills.

Once Collins discovers Andie's street roots, he urges her to start a crew of MSA dancers to perform at The Streets. The mélange of freaks and geeks Collins and Andie dig up are an opportunity for the film to overfill with color and originality, as loveably offbeat characters like foreign exchange student Jenny Kido (Mari Koda), daredevil stunt-master Monster (Luis Rosado) and a kid who could be the lovechild of Steve Erkel and Ludacris, Smiles (LaJon Dantzler), hit the screen with awe-inspiring skills. Moose also joins the crew, as a closet dancer who didn't make the cut get into MSA's dance program. Unfortunately, each has only about two or three lines and no characters besides Andie and Collins really develop.

What follows is completely unforgettable, as The 410 and Andie's new crew battle it out on the way to The Streets. Audiences begin to tune in again only on the day of The Streets, when a series of corny speeches are made about standing out, teamwork, blah blah blah. However, what the film lacks in imagination is nearly fully compensated for when The Streets takes place and unmatched talents hurl out amazing moves. Following Randy Jackson's new show, America's Next Dance Crew, the competition exposes phenomenal and mind-blowing dancers, including California's JabbaWockeeZ, making the film worth its lame moments. Andie and her crew haul outdoors for their dance, under pouring rain, and perform a routine that alone amounts to the value of a $10.50 movie ticket.

Evigan is also an unusual asset to the movie. When trailers of the sequel hit YouTube's website, comments included, "The booty-shaking that white girl is doing is not hip-hop." However, throughout the film, Evigan proves she is a prevailing talent when it comes to working it, impressively finding the ability to stand out among powerhouses like Sevigan and Rosado. Plus, the girl is a decent actress-she just suffers from the same syndrome afflicting the rest of the film's stars: horrible, unnatural lines. Additionally, the screenwriters are adamant on making Andie's character seem like a bonafide Baltimore badass, having her overuse slang and stereotypical "street" vernacular.

Before the final dance routine, Andie climbs on top of a speaker trying to elicit attention from the spectators laughing at her crew. The scene is as painful, contrived and mortifying as when Danity Kane's Aubrey called out to her "money-makin' brothers." Andie gets up, yelling "Yo, yo! Listen, y'all!"-we get it MTV, she's supposed to be from the 'hood, enough already. Still though, even throughout all her embarrassing obstacles, there's something alluring and salacious about Evigan. The daughter of famed actor Greg Evigan, her only other starring role included a depressed artist in Linkin Park's "Numb" music video. If given a less problematic script, Evigan might just make it as an actress.

Despite its intensely refined dance routines, Step Up 2 The Streets is begging for a severe script renovation and an entire reconstruction of its creativity factor. Watch out for a salsa scene, bitten from Center Stage and Havana Nights, and a rain-soaked kiss, a la Cinderella Story and The Notebook. Catch this movie only for its exceptional dancers.

Step Up 2 The Streets is now in theaters everywhere.