Save the Last Dance (2001)

Director:

Thomas Carter

Writers (WGA):

Duane Adler (story)
Duane Adler (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 January 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

The Only Person You Need To Be Is Yourself.

Plot:

A white midwestern girl moves to Chicago, where her new boyfriend is a black teen from the South Side with a rough, semi-criminal past.

Plot Keywords:

Old Dark House | Club | Single Mother | Cross Cultural Relations | Cultural Diversity

Awards:

6 wins & 6 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 26

12:00 PM

TBS

Cast

Julia Stiles	...	Sara Johnson
Sean Patrick Thomas	...	Derek Reynolds
Kerry Washington	...	Chenille Reynolds
Fredro Starr	...	Malakai
Terry Kinney	...	Roy Johnson
Bianca Lawson	...	Nikki
Vince Green	...	Snookie
Garland Whitt	...	Kenny
Elisabeth Oas	...	Diggy
Artel Kayàru	...	Arvel (as Artel Jarod Walker)
Cory Stewart	...	Lip
Jennifer Anglin	...	Glynn
Dorothy Martin	...	Momma Dean
Kim Tlusty	...	Lindsay Johnson
Felicia Fields	...	Woman on Train

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content, language and brief drug references.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:U | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Hungary:14 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

CTA Rail System, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Cort/Madden Productions

Trivia:

According to an early draft of the script, Sarah lived with her mother in Pennsylvania before moving in with her father in Baltimore. By the time the film was shot, the locations were Lemont, IL and Chicago, respectively.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Obvious double when Derek is dancing and does the splits.

Quotes:

Derek: Let's put some S-E-X in those H-I-Ps!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Julia Stiles/Aerosmith (#26.15)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Tell Me What You Want

Cheesy, but great dancing

Unless you like cheesy MTV-style teenage movies of the ilk of Flashdance, this may not be for you. If you do, it's a well-made piece of that easily digestible junk-food genre. For me, it was interesting mostly because of the dancing (fusion of hip-hop and ballet). There's some interesting performances, even if the editing is there to show the dancefloor moves to a perfection that might not have actually been achieved by Julia Stiles. The standard boy-meets-girl, gets-her-to-realise-her-dream-as-a-dancer-stuff is the stuff large buckets of popcorn were made for . . .