Make It Happen's protagonist Lauryn (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, previously seen in Quentin Tarantino’s cult flick Death Proof and scream-fest Final Destination 3) is a small town girl who dreams of going to Chicago School of Music and Dance. Her parents have passed away, leaving her and her brother Joel (John Readron) to run the family auto shop. Despite Joel’s discouragement, she drives down to Chicago, auditions, but does not make the cut because her dancing is deemed “not feminine” enough.

While brooding at a coffee joint on how hard life is, she meets an overly-friendly waitress Dana (Tessa Thompson) who takes her in and even offers her a job as a book-keeper in the burlesque club called Ruby’s.

As Lauryn counts receipts, Dana and lead dancer Carmen (the sexy, catty Julissa Bermudez) prance on stage to a very appreciative audience. Mind you, this ain’t no sleazy strip club. There are multiple shots of women in the audience clapping ecstatically and cheering louder than the men, which is admittedly a little disturbing, but hell, it's all about dance as an art form, which the film tries its darnest to convey.

It's about at this point in the show that the psychic in all of us knows what’s coming next. Lauryn gets her big break one night and becomes the new star at Ruby’s, falls in love with Russ (Riley Smith), the club DJ and aspiring musician, and together they inspire each other to fufill their dreams.

If this sounds all too familiar, you may have watched 2001's Save the Last Dance or any of the other follow-your-dreams-no-matter-what teen dance movies (like Step Up or Coyote Ugly).

Make It Happen suffers from an all too predictable plot. Which is fine, if, like Step Up 2, it had wicked dance moves and a heart-pumping soundtrack. This is where the film falls flat on its face. None of the dance sequences were outstanding and you can’t help but wonder what the audience in Ruby’s were making such a ruckus for.

The script has its moments with cheeky one-liners from Smith or Carmen, and to be fair, poses some real questions (whether intentionally or not)  like the struggle between practicality and family responsibilities versus the relentless pursuit of your dreams and aspirations. However, even together with the good looks of Winstead and her playful chemistry with Smith, this film still remains one of those films that perhaps need not have happened.

Make It Happen opens islandwide on Sept 4.

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THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF SEPT 1-7 :: The What Issue

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