Step Up 2 The Streets

Review

We’d feed you a trite line here about guilty pleasures, but having just watched this trailer, we’re too busy picking our jaws up off the floor. This sequel to the minor Channing Tatum hit, in which rebel Annie rallies her fancy-performing-arts-school buds to throw down on Baltimore’s fierce underground dance circuit, promises to hit all the urban-dance hallmarks with sledgehammer intensity. It’s all here: the stodgy institution (“you realize that with those competitions, you are risking everything”); the catty bitch (“she doesn’t have what it takes”) with the makings of a best friend; and, in a midriff-baring, rain-soaked showdown, a moment of pure, ludicrous transcendence. — Amos Barshad