Stomp the Yard

Columbus Short
Meagan Good
Darrin DeWitt Henson
Brian J. White

Directed by: Sylvain White

At first glance, this film could very easily be mistaken for just another one of the hundreds of films that seem to come out around this time of year. The film even has a pretty recognizable plot. A troubled youth moves away from home to get a fresh start. While making something better of himself his past comes back to haunt him and he has to prove himself all over again. This movie is more. This movie is entertaining and at times you forget you are actually watching a movie that has been done time and time again.

Stomp the Yard is a film about a teenager in L.A. who spends his time competing in underground dance battles to make ends meet. One night after a particularly heated battle, his team is ambushed by the losing team and he watches his brother die in front of him. The incident gets him in trouble with the law and ends up in Atlanta with his aunt and uncle. With a little work he gets a scholarship to a local black college and with a little prodding from his tutor, ends up rushing a fraternity. He ends up falling for the girl, to the dismay of her boyfriend and her father, the dean. While at the frat, he learns about stepping. He uses the skills he learned during the dance fights to bond with his brothers and helps them beat a rival fraternity. While dating his tutor, the dean learns about his run in with the law, and uses it against him. He has to decide whether to quit school and disappoint his brothers and his girlfriend or stay with his girl and end up losing everything when his secret is revealed.

This is a cookie cutter movie, and anyone who has seen more than two or three films in their lifetime can guess the twists and turns of this film. Two things save this movie from mediocrity and getting lost in the shuffle with every movie just like it. The ability of the leading man (Columbus Short of Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip) to carry this film gives you the feeling that you are watching something better than the same old same old. The real star of the film is the dancing. The actors are able to pull of some amazing dance steps and acrobatic moves. Amazing would be an adequate word to use here. Jaw dropping would be appropriate too. The stepping sequences are spaced throughout the film so as to keep a brisk pace and the melodrama to a minimum. This is a great date movie and both people will walk out of the theater glad to have seen it.
 

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