MAKE IT HAPPEN
US, 2008, 86 minutes, Colour.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Riley Smith, Tessa Thomson, John Reardon, Ashley Roberts, Julissa Bermudez.
Directed by Darren Grant.
Is it Flashdance from a quarter of a century ago that is responsible for many moviegoers loving films about dancing, especially of the vigorous kind wether it be Footloose or Dirty Dancing, or the popular trends from Salsa to Breakdancing and the competitions with dance gangs in the American city neighbourhood streets? It probably was. And, Make it Happen certainly follows this long-standing trend: a girl from a garage (well, she does the books rather than get round in a boiler suit) loves to dance. Trapped into helping out her disapproving brother at the family garage for three years, she finally heads off from Indiana to Chicago where she has an audition for a prestigious dancing school. It doesn’t spoil the plot to discover she is not accepted – the judge does not understand her style of dancing or her burning ambition. We do – and we know what the challenges she has to face will be.
Feeling low, she meets a young woman who is serving coffee (which is puzzling because we soon discover she is a bombshell of burlesque style dancing at a popular club). The two women become good friends. There is a DJ who composes his own music. Now we are into Coyote Ugly territory although the patrons of this Chicago club have much better manners. If, at this point, you are guessing the rest, you are probably not wrong at all. But, the whole point of following the formula is actually following the formula so that audiences who know where it is all going can enjoy watching how it actually does work out.
This means that Make it Happen is the 2008 contribution to the US dance-fail-and-succeed trend, made just for the audience who loves this trend.
1.A popular dance film? The formula and the way that it was used? Entertaining nonetheless?
2.The Indiana settings? Home, the garage? The contrast with Chicago, the cityscapes, the auditions, the clubs, the apartments, the streets? Authentic atmosphere?
3.The musical score, the dance routines, the musical style? The clubs and performance?
4.The importance of dancing, Lauryn and her rehearsals? Her audition? Style, acrobatic, gymnastic? The dancing in the club, the touch of burlesque? The combination of these styles? Lauryn’s final audition?
5.Lauryn’s story, audiences identifying with her? The white girl from Indiana? Her background, her mother teaching her to dance (and the video)? Her father’s grief and death? Joel and the garage, her three years of work? Wanting to go to the audition and to school? Joel’s opposition and discouraging her? Her life in the town, departure?
6.Lauryn in Chicago, going to the audition, her being dismissed? Her meeting Dana in the restaurant, going to her house, the car being impounded? Going to work at the club? Her doing the books? The meeting with Russ, his coming on, her resistance? The friendship with Dana and Dana’s dancing? Her own rehearsals, dancing privately? Thinking she could not do these moves? Helping Dana with moves? Russ seeing her rehearse? The emergency, her being called in, the proprietor and her reluctance? The initial failure, the reaction of the guests? Russ changing the music, her coming alive, her performance, the acclaim? Carmen, her jealousy, insults? Russ and his encouragement? Her continuing to dance? The phone calls to Joel, not telling him the truth? His coming to the club, seeing her, his disappointment? Harsh words? Her explanation of her absence at her father’s death and Russ’s support? Gradually falling in love with Russ? Her sudden return to Indiana, doing the work? Dancing with the attendant? Joel and his change of heart? Her going back, Russ insisting that she do the audition? Her assertiveness, her performance, her being accepted? Going back to the club and the celebration?
7.Talent, believing in oneself, making it happen?
8.Joel, his love for his father, keeping the garage going, the threats and the bills? His reaction to Lauryn’s dancing? Coming to the city, disappointment? Firing her and encouraging her to go back?
9.Russ, musical director, his own talent in composing, the friendship, Lauryn misunderstanding him, the bonds between them? Her encouraging him with his music? His insistence on the audition, being there?
10.Dana, her friendship, her dance, a good friend?
11.The proprietor of the Ruby Club, hard, giving Lauryn the job, letting her dance, the final confrontation – and the joke and her party?
12.Carmen, her jealousy? Her relenting? The other dancers?
13.The popular ingredients for a dance musical – in a contemporary style?
