| | | A Slammin' Combo of Dance and Drama...
Features: DVD
Sara (Julia Stiles) is a small-town girl with a big dream: to become a world-class ballerina. But when her mother suddenly dies, Sara must abandon her plans and join her estranged father (Terry Kinney) on Chicago's gritty South Side. A white girl in a predominantly black neighborhood, Sara feels out of place - until she is befriended by a black classmate, Chenille (Kerry Washington), and her handsome brother, Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). Sparks fly between Sara and Derek, whose shared love for dance leads to romance. But as Sara and Derek's relationship grows, so does opposition from their families and friends. Now Sara and Derek face the biggest challenge of their young lives - to stay true to their dreams... and each other.
"...grace, style, wit and fun." Gemma Files, Film.com
"...triumphantly passes the audition." Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
"...well-put-together romantic drama to hold hands to on the weekend." Sara Wildberger, Miami Herald
Editor's Note
With her dreams of becoming a professional ballerina decimated by the accidental death of her mother, Sara Johnson (Stiles) is forced to move from her quiet Midwestern town to her father's ghetto apartment on the south side of Chicago. The stark urban environment's contrast of race and class compound Sara's loss and her misplaced guilt, which are both exacerbated by the fact that her mother had been en route to her dance performance at the time of her death. But when she meets Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), a popular black student with a passion for hip-hop and a future brighter than his troubled past, her repressed ambition and sorrow are released through a revitalized interest in the cathartic and expressive power of dance. Their friendship and mutual interest in dancing inexorably lead to a passionate romance that raises the sadly typical, bigoted resistance from Sara's white father and Derek's black friends. Widely hailed by critics for being as sophisticated and intelligent as it is viscerally passionate, SAVE THE LAST DANCE enjoyed the top of the American box office in its first weekend in release, playing to sold out shows across the country, a landslide affirmation that Sara and Derek are not as alone as they think.
| Features | Audio Commentary By Director Thomas Carter | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Deleted Scenes | | Dubbed: French | | Exclusive Cast & Crew Interviews | | Featurette: The Making Of Save The Last Dance | | Interactive Menus | | Music Video: Crazy By K-Ci & JoJo | | Scene Selection | | Theatrical Trailers |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 9/26/2006 |
| Original Release Date: 2001 | | Catalog ID: 094944 | | UPC: 00097360949445 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Winner (2001) | | | MTV Award, Julia Stiles, et. al., Best Kiss | | | MTV Award, Sean Patrick Thomas , Breakthrough Male Performance | |
Nominee (2001) | | | MTV Award, Julia Stiles, Best Female Performance | | | MTV Award, Save the Last Dance, Best Dance Sequence |
| Memorable Quotes| "You come and take one of the few decent men left after drugs, jail and drive--bys."---- Chenille (Washington) to Sara (Stiles) | | "We spend more time defending our relationship than actually having one." |
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...[Stiles'] performance, and her dancing, blossom in a pleasant, spirited way....Thomas projects a potently attractive self-confidence..." 01/08/2001 p.37-8Entertainment Weekly
"...SAVE THE LAST DANCE teaches that you should never give up your dreams and that love is all you need..." 01/19/2001 p.63 Total Film
"...[The film has] smart performances and pulls off the rare trick of tackling some thorny racial issues without becoming blandly moralistic..." 04/01/2001 p.85 Los Angeles Times
"...Well-crafted and smoothly paced, SAVE THE LAST DANCE benefits most strongly from its predominately youthful cast....Lawson and the most appealing Washington make impressions as vivid as those of Stiles and Thomas..." 01/12/2001 p.F1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...The development is intelligent, the characters are more complicated than we expect and the ending doesn't tie everything up in a predictable way....[Stiles is] one of the most talented of the emerging generation of actresses..." 01/12/2001 p.20 ReelViews 7 of 10
...takes a little Pygmalion, a little Romeo and Juliet, and a lot of formula, wraps them up with a neat bow, and delivers a passably entertaining package. The film stumbles not so much in its strict adherence to the expected, but in its sometimes facile and unconvincing resolution of complex issues (interracial relationships, grief and its associated guilt, escaping the snare of gang wars and urban violence). Also, the use of dance as a channel to redemption is not as fresh as it would have seemed a year ago. In the interim, Center Stage and Billy Elliot have offered some of the same ideas...worth seeing to appreciate what Stiles and Thomas can do with the material... - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Save the Last Dance begins with standard material but doesn't settle for it. The setup promises cliches, but the development is intelligent, the characters are more complicated than we expect, and the ending doesn't tie everything up in a predictable way. Above all, this is a movie where the characters ask the same questions we do: They're as smart about themselves as we are. - Roger Ebert
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