Suburban raised Julia Stiles has no other dream than dancing her way into Juilliard Ballet School. All she needs is her mom's presence at the audition. Very early on in the movie her mother is killed in a car accident. The trauma causes her to give up dancing, but it's the logistics of guardianship, which lands her on a sofa bed at her somewhat estranged father's house smack dab in the middle of a black Chicago neighborhood.

Actually, the tension between her and her jazz musician father oscillates nicely, though is never quite juiced. Imperfectly, he fumbles for her forgiveness regarding past events left unspecified but no doubt centering around his departure. She's not jumping into his arms too quickly.

The real story is her relationship with a slick, bright, tough hip-hopster and her integration into the hood.

Aside from a sweetly edited finale dance solo, Stiles doesn't exactly fill the ballet dancer shoes, though she has no problem stepping into a lead role and commanding the production. I like this actress. In fact, she choked me up in two separate scenes. And though charming and funny in other scenes, the lead male Sean Patrick Thomas, couldn't find the right angle to complement her tears, paling when the scenes get deeply emotional. Not that he has the best dialogue to work with.

Teaching Stiles the finer points of hip-hop dancing, Thomas shines.

Aside from the father angle, which was truncated mid blossom, this is a formula fish out of water, dancer flick. Not too schmaltzy, not too edgy. She should have saved the last dance for her father.