Inspirational pablum, "inspired," to begin with, "by a true story," that of Pierre Dulaine (played by that loverly Latin, Antonio Banderas), who volunteers to bring his courtly Old World manners and his ballroom dance steps into Detention Hall at a rough New York high school: Mad Hot Ballroom meets Blackboard Jungle. The school principal (the formidable Alfre Woodard, who recedes from center stage too soon and too far) sees in the proposal "the cure for cutting class," a punishment so cruel and unusual as to scare the detainees straight. It's true that the sounds of Gershwin from a boom box drive them to plead for mercy, but nevertheless the Detention Hall roster remains as fixed throughout the school year as the roll of any English or History class. A tango demonstration staged by the swarthy dance instructor and a lithe blond ice queen, and chopped to bits by the erstwhile music-video director Liz Friedlander, widens the students' eyes and horizons, and a formulaic dance competition offers them the Gerber Strained Carrots at the end of the stick. (2006) — Duncan Shepherd
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