Dance movies can go one of two ways. They can be self serious affairs that drag you into their “life or death….with dancing” scenario (Save the Last Dance, Dirty Dancing). Or, they can know their general stakes, and just have fun showing off some fun dance moves (Bring It On, High School Musical). Work It is more of the latter: a breezy romp that quickly pushes past its inane stakes for a few jokes and some fun moves. Is it worth it? Let me work it….out for you. Ti esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tup.
Quinn (Sabrina Carpenter) is a bookworm prepping since birth to get into her dream college, Duke. At her college interview, the recruiter (Michelle Buteau, enjoying that lifetime Netflix contract she signed) informs Quinn that she’s one of a million or so applicants with the same resume. Desperate, Quinn tells the recruiter that she’s part the Thunderbirds, the nationally renown dance team from the school, after which the recruiter tells her she’s excited to see Quinn at the upcoming dance competition the Thunderbirds will be participating in. There are 3 problems with this. Quinn’s not on the Thunderbirds: her friend Jasmine (Liza Koshy) is. The alpha of the Thunderbirds, “Juliard” (Keiynan Lonsdale), has repeatedly told Quinn to sashay away from the group, and most importantly, Quinn can’t dance. Like, at all.
Based on that set up, the story goes exactly where you think it is going. But twisty storytelling isn’t a requisite of a solid dance flick. However, keeping viewers engaged between dance sequences/montages is. So props to Alison Peck, the relatively untested writer of the movie, for finding breezy fun ways to pull that off. The humor in this movie is mostly at its best in snide comments whispered under breath, usually by Sabrina Carpenter, letting the outrageous take precedence while giving us the amusing inner workings of the main characters, slowly winning us over and rooting for them along the way. One of the more fun ways Peck keesp viewers engaged is a good comedic runner: something that keeps returning in the story over and over again. In the case of Work It, that’s Jasmine’s insistence on spending time in a mattress store. She finds more elaborate and ridiculous reasons to keep bringing Quinn or the dance group to the store, so she can lust after the hunky mattress store employee, in more and more inappropriate ways. And when that joke hits its logical end, Peck drags us out of the fantasy and back to the dancing.
One thing Work It does better than the bad dance flicks is it varies its dance numbers. Yes, there are some amazing showcases of real dancing, including one on one and team v team dance offs and dance competitions. However, interspersed with those expected numbers are montages of Quinn learning how to dance with her teacher, Jake Tyler (Jordan Fisher). These scenes set the stakes for Quinn well: showing the audience how far she has to go to become a good dancer. And more importantly, it drives home one of the messages of the movie: getting out of your head a little and listening to your heart, which is what inspires great dancing. The movie does a great job making you feel Quinn’s transformation: props to director Laura Terruso for using an unorthodox but very satisfying dance montage that starts with book stamping that’s as exhilarating as any of the dance offs because you know THIS is the big breakthrough for Quinn.
You’ll dance along. You’ll smile, maybe laugh a little. And you’ll be satisfied by the end of Work It, because you got out of your head, and started listening to the rhythms of your heart. For me, the soundtrack of my heart is a combination of Birthday, Annalee, and Work. I hope Work It inspires you to find your heart’s song!