Let’s make one thing clear: There are movies, and then there are dance movies. The distinction is pretty simple — in the former, our protagonist usually has to overcome some obstacle to achieve their goals; in the latter, they do it with DANCE. Bonus points may be awarded if they start the movie out as a disillusioned dancer, or as someone who can’t dance, and/or if there is a rehearsal montage set to a fun pop beat.
Such will be the case in Work It, the new dance movie coming to you on Netflix August 7. The trailer for the film, which stars Sabrina Carpenter, Liza Koshy, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jordan Fisher, and Riverdale’s Drew Ray Tanner, just dropped, and it has all the elements of a peak Dance Movie(™).
For starters, there’s Quinn (Sabrina), a brainiac with zero rhythm or moves to speak of who believes she needs to join her school’s winning dance team in order to get into her dream college. After the dance captain (Keiynan) correctly asserts that she can’t dance, and he is too busy prepping for the big Work It competition to teach her, she decides to loop her best friend (Liza) into the effort of creating their own dance team. Thanks to some social media sleuthing and a winning choreographer (Jordan), they might actually stand a chance — if the new dance crew can shake off their perennial awkwardness and polish themselves enough for the stage.
Will they take home the title, and will Quinn get into her dream school? Or will Keiynan’s Thunderbirds reign supreme, leaving our heroine to learn a greater lesson than simply winning? You’ll have to turn Netflix on in just a few weeks to find out.
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