Marshall and the Movies

While base ticket prices at my favorite theater have slowly become more and more expensive, the 3D premium price has stayed at a constant $3.  Yet in the past few weeks, they have raised that price to $4 per ticket.  For some movies, I’m willing to pay that premium on top of the exorbitant ticket.  For movies like “Step Up 3,” however, I’d be willing to pay just that $4 premium.

This is a movie that falls perfectly into a category I like to call “bearably bad.”  It is a complete joke, something that should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen a trailer or realized it to be an ugly stepchild threequel to its legitimate predecessor.  Everything about the movie oozes corniness.  But what makes it bad is what makes it so terribly good.

There’s a certain mindset that you have to enter when you see a movie like “Step Up 3” – or at least that you should enter if you want to get any sort of enjoyment out of it.  You have to forget that actors are supposed to act.  For the movie, they just need to look good and dance well.  How else could a former Abercrombie model get a lead?

You will also need to forget how people talk in the real world.  Every other line offers you a chance to laugh at the ridiculousness of the movie.  Finally, you will have to forget what a real movie is like, having to accept the string of dialogue that passes for a plot, incoherently leading to dance competition after dance competition.  And why should you care?  If you watch this movie to be blown away by its narrative power, you need serious help.

As for the dancing, which is the movie’s main attraction, it’s entertaining enough.  There’s nothing particularly mind-blowing or much more special than videos you can find on YouTube.  But you have to see it in 3D, right?  Don’t bite the Hollywood marketing bait; see dancing in real 3D and go find them exhibiting their skills in studios or on the streets.  C /