Work It is the terrible dance movie to end all terrible dance movies
Work It is the latest in a long list of bad dance movies to hate-watch
Work It is one of Netflix’s many new releases, but it definitely stands out. Unfortunately, that’s for all the wrong reasons.
Cheesy dance movies that show the storytellers have zero idea how difficult it really is to train to be a dancer are nothing new. And on the surface, they’re not always a terrible idea either. They can be entertaining, and they spread an uplifting message about following your dreams or how, even if you think you’re nothing, you might just have a hidden talent.
Work It doesn’t take that route, though. It’s more of a story about how your cookie-cutter over-achiever thinks she can just create a brand new dance team on the spot and totally become better than the best of the best, just because she’s good at studying.
Work It is one big, giant atrocity wrapped up in a bundle of stereotypes
We’ve got your goth! Your jocks! A female bestie that’s so boy-obsessed, she sexually harasses a mattress store employee! And so much more!
This type of story has to have a “mean girl,” who’s the best dancer of all the best dancers—and knows it. In a twist of creativity, if we can call it that, Work It‘s villain is actually a mean boy: Keiynan Lonsdale’s Isaiah, who initially refuses to be called anything other than Juilliard. He’s going to go to the famous conservatory, you see, even if the only dancing we ever see him doing doesn’t exactly fit the mold.
Lonsdale is well and truly the best thing about Work It, which shouldn’t be any surprise to anyone who’s followed his career before now. He’s a fantastic dancer and actor, who was absolutely lovable on The Flash. It’s just too bad that Juilliard is nothing more than Dance Academy’s Ollie turned up to 3000—without the sweet and tragic Sammy to take the edge off.
Speaking of love stories: Work It, of course, has one of those. Netflix can’t possibly release a movie, much less a dance movie, without that. Lead character Quinn falls madly in love with Jake on first touch—because obviously, any time a male dancer touches a female catastrophe’s body to correct her technique, it must be a sexually-charged moment. And instant ability to just throw together a romantic duet must, of course, come with it.
Quinn, the main character who suddenly becomes a dancer after lying about it, is another giant stereotype. She’s the uptight brain with no social life and the mother who wants to keep it that way. Because obviously, none of us have ever succeeded academically, much less gotten into a decent college, without throwing away any semblance of a life. Perhaps the only realistic moment in the movie comes when Duke admissions counselor, Ms. Ramirez, throws a stack of folders at Quinn that are all applicants exactly like her.
Unfortunately, it’s Ms. Ramirez’s obsession with the Work It Competition winning dance team, having seen them on Ellen, that sets the whole magic dance plot rolling. You’d think someone who worked for Duke University, a school intimately tied to the American Dance Festival, would know that there’s no such thing as an “illuminator.” But then again, that would require you to think.
Work It should be watched without going anywhere near thinking. Just let the bad moves roll in the background, or better yet: Watch any of a zillion other similar films that are just enough less bizarre to be more enjoyable.
Work It is now streaming on Netflix for your hate-watching pleasure.