Julia Stiles is an immensely talented actress, but a very poor dancer. An inherent flaw then, before we even begin. She doesn't look or move like a dancer, and appears seriously out of place in a hip-hop club. Director Thomas Carter has a string of successful TV shows to his name, and sadly this supposed 'movie' screams 'TV' from every angle. It just doesn't have any depth, and boasts a seriously dodgy 'TV drama-style' score. It skirts right around some interesting and important social & economic issues, preferring instead to attempt to create an illusion of hip-hop, street-gang cool - which it fails miserably to succeed with. Far too wishy-washy, almost apologetic in handling potentially gritty situations. When actors of the calibre of Stiles, Thomas, Lawson, Kinney etc etc are wasted in this manner, it is nothing short of a travesty.