How She Move review

Raya (Rutina Wesley) is forced to leave her posh prep-school and return to the demolished, drug-soaked ’hood from whence she came after her big sister dies of an overdose and leaves the family penniless. Her only way back into the rich kids’ club? Why, a $50,000 dance-off in Detroit, of course. Cue girl-fights, crying mothers and some rather ferocious booty-quaking. Ian Iqbal Rashid, a Canadian filmmaker known primarily for gay-themed comedies this time opts for ham-fisted, teen-baiting melodrama of the highest order, shot with a jittery YouTuber sensibility and peppered with patently phony ‘urban’ slang. The characters are wafer-thin and absurdly white-washed – even the drug dealer is a reasonable dude – while the story’s a retread of every teen-hoofing drama ever cobbled. Luckily there’s enough eye-bulging, gravity-snubbing and car-smashing dance sequences to make it worth a look. Just.