Save the Last Dance (2001) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)
A slick formula youthploitation and chickploitation pic. Although it is not popular across the board, it is rated 8.1 at IMDb by girls under 18, and  7.6 by women in general, descending with age. 
  Men Women
less than 18 6.9 8.1
18-29 6.0 7.5
30-44 5.4 7.0
45 or more 5.2 6.9
That table is probably more dramatic than you think. 8.1 is in the range of the greatest films ever made, 5,2 is in the range of an respectable straight-to-video film.

The age correlation applies to males as well. It is rated in the cowflop range by grown men, but is reasonably popular with boys. The younger you are, the more likely you will appreciate it, and the likelihood will really improve dramatically if you don't have a penis.

In other words, rent it for your daughter. (Worked for me)

NUDITY REPORT
none, also none in the deleted scenes

DVD info from Amazon.

  • Widescreen anamorphic, 1.85:1

  • Full-length director commentary

  • cast and crew interviews

  • deleted scenes

  • music video

The premise: Young girl is about to audition for Julliard, but her mom dies on the way to the audition. She is forced to go live with her hippie dropout dad in a Chicago slum, and learn to make a new life as one of the few white students in an inner city public high school.

Needless to say, the people she meets are generally intelligent and pure of heart, she makes many deep friends, and finds the courage to dance again. In other words, it is an ABC afterschool special in which hip-hop and ballet learn to live together and become greater when they fuse, just as we humans should.

Strangely it is a dance film where the dance routines are somewhat infrequent, and have been parsed into jillions of fast cuts to disguise the fact that Julia Stiles, a promising young actress, is ... well ... let's be kind and say she's not a dancer, and she doesn't have anything approaching a dancer's body. The long shots and rear shots are a talented dancer with a svelte figure.

The film's strong points are that the acting is competent, the characters are well-rounded, and it will teach your daughters good things, not bad. 

The Critics Vote

  • General consensus: three stars. Ebert 3/4, Berardinelli 2.5/4, Apollo 71.

  • Rotten Tomatoes summary. 46% positive overall, but a somewhat more impressive 63% from the top critics.

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 6.2/10, but Apollo voters a very impressive users 85/100.
  • With their dollars ... top-notch niche picture marketing helped this film to reach its target audience. Took in $90 million in domestic gross, and was solid in some overseas markets as well.
IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C. Slick, solid niche picture for young girls, but avoid it if you don't dot your "i's" with little hearts

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