Step Sisters (2017)

January 29, 2018 6:21 AM

Jamilah has her whole life figured out. She's the president of her black sorority, captain of their champion step dance crew, is student liaison to the college dean, and her next move is on to Harvard Law School. She's got it all, right? But when the hard-partying white girls from Sigma Beta Beta embarrass the school, Jamilah is ordered to come to the rescue. Her mission is to not only teach the rhythmically-challenged girls how to step dance, but to win the Steptacular, the most competitive of dance competitions. With the SBBs reputations and charter on the line, and Jamilah's dream of attending Harvard in jeopardy, these outcast screw-ups and their unlikely teacher stumble through one hilarious misstep after another. Cultures clash, romance blossoms, and sisterhood prevails as everyone steps out of their comfort zones.

A+ soundtrack including "Tightrope" by Janelle Monae, "Worship Me" by Lizzo, and Raphael Saadiq.

posted by jillithd (5 comments total)

Ok, I'm one of the whitest people who ever whited, but... did this read to anyone else as lecturing us about how appropriation is totally not a thing and ugh, why can't black people just lighten up about the race thing?
posted by Karmakaze at 2:00 PM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I don't know what kind of message they were trying to make. The lead was saying how the sisterhood and support of her sorority were things to aspire to, but they never showed that, just the internal bickering. Near the end she mentioned she was called an "Oreo" but it was too much telling and not enough showing for that to ring true enough.
posted by jillithd at 6:49 PM on January 29, 2018

I was looking forward to watching this one and now I am not so much. I'll be watching it with a more critical eye for certain.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:50 PM on January 29, 2018

The stepping scenes were great and so was the soundtrack!
posted by jillithd at 6:54 AM on January 30, 2018 [1 favorite]

The larger cultural messages were weird, and it was a bit iffy even as a rag-tag group of misfits make good and save the thing movie, but the dancing was great. There were a couple of stepping sequences that were done over music, though, without any of the sounds of the stepping coming through and I found that a bit annoying.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:37 AM on February 4, 2018