Work It is a coming-of-age Dance comedy Movie directed by Laura Terruso and starring Sabrina Carpenter, Liza Koshy, Keiynan Lonsdale, Drew Ray Tanner, Michelle Buteau and Jordan Fisher.

Fun old stuff

Work It follows Quinn Ackerman, a brilliant student who’s on her way to college. Her only one dream in life is to get into Duke University. She’s great when it comes to her studies and has a perfect GPA, but she hardly has any social life. So, when she is told that she needs to find her passion to differentiate her from every other applicant, she forms a dance group in hopes of winning the Work It dance competition.

This movie is scarily similar to some other dance movies that we have seen too many times. A desperate student recruits good, but shunned, dancers in the school to win a competition to prove her worth. Let me first say that most of these characters don’t really have much going for them. You can’t be invested in a movie where the characters really have no backstory. Although most of these characters are more or less likeable, they’re not engaging enough.

So, what holds the movie together is the dancing and the music – which are great. They’re fun to watch, high energy, and honestly quite impressive. Kudos to the choreographer for giving us something to look forward to. I can’t imagine watching this movie without the dance. Additionally, the soundtrack is stacked with peppy numbers that will make you want to dance – we can’t have enough of those.

Work It’s plot, overall, is very predictable. Even during areas which aren’t’ like other films, you can figure out what’s gonna happen from a mile away. But then again, there’s the dancing to save the day. And also, some fun banter from the characters. Liza Koshy is quite funny, although I can’t say the same for Sabrina Carpenter. Jordan Fisher is also quite appealing with his charming smile and great moves, and thankfully doesn’t get left behind by his beau this time. He’s a great dancer and an equally good actor, and his presence in the film is a life-saver. Also, some of his romantic scenes with Carpenter are quite sweet.

So, the thing is, it’s very hard to picture Quinn as someone who has two left feet. Her transformation from horrible to mind-blowing is so easy, that it’s not believable. There’s also no tension in the film since you already know what’s going to happen in the end.  And it is also very problematic to have a bunch of 20-something people emboding high-schoolers – it just doesn’t work. Other members of the group are also very conveniently forgotten very quickly, and the lead rival, Isaiah, is just annoying for the most part.

Also, there’s this character who is Jas’s love interest, who is very awkwardly shown topless as a comedic relief. Weird sexualisations aren’t funny, and are extremely uncomfortable to watch – just saying.

Summing up: Work It

It’s become a thing for these coming-of-age movies to portray two extremes of life – you’re either a brilliant student, or you’re failing in all of your subjects but great at extra-curriculars. This is hardly a reality, and probably keeping a healthy balance is the way to go. But, I digress.

With the most predictable plot ever, Work It brings nothing new to the table. It’s the same tried and tested policy, but thankfully with good dancers and a peppy soundtrack. It’s an easy-breezy movie, if you just want to veg out infront of the screen. Most of the jokes also land, thank god for Koshy’s delivery. Everyone looks gorgeous and if there was an ounce of originality, it’d have been a better watch.

Work It is streaming on Netflix.

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