Make It Happen (2008) Reviews

• Youthful, uplifting and vibrant popcorn flick

  Gordon-112008-11-18

  This film is about a young woman who works against all odds towards achieving her dream as a dancer. "Make It Happen" is a predictable feel good movie. It has got all the ingredients to be a cheesy film. It has trendy danceable music, cool dance moves, great looking people, the jealous enemy; even the obligatory shopping scenes! As for the plot, there is no beating around the bush. Just six minutes into the film, there is already a dance audition. The pacing is fast, but it does not feel rushed. The dance moves are energetic and vibrant, which makes it a joy to watch. "Make It Happen" gives the right youthful energy which makes viewers feel good. It is a great popcorn flick to turn your brain off. Just forget all the clichés, sit back and enjoy it.

• An Uninspired, Dull Dance Flick

  TheUnseenMovieLover2008-08-11

  To be honest, the only reason that I went to watch this movie at the cinema was because I attend a club which involves dancing. Quite a few of the routines that we do are based on songs or dance sequences from movies such as Step Up. Upon seeing the trailers for Make It Happen, I thought that I should go to see it, just in case we try a routine which is related to the film. Still, I am likely to commend myself if I can remember most of this lacklustre movie in a couple of weeks. Lauryn (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has dreamt of being a dancer for most of her life. However, after auditioning for the prestigious Chicago School of Music and Dance and being rejected, her hopes are severely damaged. Soon after this failure, she becomes a dancer at a burlesque club called Ruby's, and is a major success. However, Lauryn's family and her dreams soon begin to clash, and she must choose between the two... Make It Happen contains two positive elements. The dance sequences are extremely sexy and are also packed with confident energy. In the lead role, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is instantly likable and human. She isn't terrific, but she is still good enough that she puts the rest of the cast (who seem to be waiting for their pay cheques) to shame. Unfortunately, apart from the dancing and Winstead's performance, the movie falls flat. The plot is utterly predictable, the writing and direction are incredibly lazy and the pacing drags. This just feels like an attempt to cash in on the big public response to movies such as the High School Musical and Step Up instalments. So, my recommendation is to give this film a miss. I'm not really a fan of this type of movie, but I don't think that even hardcore fans will be satisfied by this superficial product. If you're looking for a good, enjoyable and pure musical experience at the cinema, it's still not too late to catch Mamma Mia!

• Festooned with clichés

  neil-4762008-08-13

  OMG, I have so totally, like, just seen this chickflick, and I'm so "What are all these teenage girls doing at this movie?" To be fair, nobody actually talks like this in the movie, but I just feel that it probably represents the target demographic. I'm pretty certain that, as an old git, I'm not in the target demographic. Hang on to your hats, I'm going to spoiler this one bigtime. First of all, this movie has the Most Forgettable Title Of All Time. I kept trying to remember it on the way home, and I got Bring It On, Never Give Up, and several like that. All wrong. It's Make It Happen. Make It Happen. Got that? Good. Don't forget. What? You forgot already? Yeah, me too. So Lauryn heads out the 600 miles from Hickville to Chicago to audition for dance school. Now they're auditioning 2,000 kids for 20 places, so it's no surprise to us when Lauryn lasts 30 seconds before being booted off the stage. She withdraws to a coffee shop to nurse her disappointment, only for her car to be towed away in the middle of a thunderstorm. She is lucky, therefore, to encounter Dana, the young waitress, and also the Kindest And Most Trusting Person In The History Of Movies. Dana offers Lauryn, a complete stranger, not only indefinite board and lodgings back at her apartment, but also an introduction which leads to Lauryn getting a job as bookkeeper - she was a bookkeeper back home (I confess to feeling a rosy glow at this point, what with being firmly rooted in the beancounting business myself). It turns out that this job is at Ruby's (owned, confusingly, not by Ruby but by Brenda) where, we discover, Dana dances when she's not being a waitress. Having danced, Dana more or less disappears from the movie at this point. And Lauryn is saved from having to tell her brother, Russ, back home that she failed the audition. The writers of this movie have clearly made more than one visit to the Cliché Mine, and have emerged loaded down with swag on each visit because, as I am sure you are expecting, the next thing to happen is for Brenda to be faced with no dancers, following which Lauryn steps into the breach and is a sensation. A word about the dancing at Ruby's. This is a club which features dancing, and Brenda explains that she's after a different sort of dancing. She sure is. It is raunchy dancing which isn't raunchy. It's clearly intended to be raunchy, but the movie is PG, which means any little kid can see it. So "raunchy" translates as "mildly suggestive." When the dancer rips off her skirt, there's another smaller skirt below it, that kind of thing. But the crowd appear to love it, whistling and whooping like nobody's business. Go figure. So Lauryn does a bit of dancing for Brenda, and a romance starts with the bloke who does the music: he encourages Lauryn to go for the special extra one-off additional audition for a further 2 places at dance school which just became vacant. Further clichés heave into view... But before contact is made with them, Lauryn's brother Russ arrives at Ruby's, and leaves in some distress that Lauryn is dancing, fully clothed, in a mildly suggestive manner. During the argument which follows, he tells her that the garage - their late father's - is just about to go broke, and he blames her for their father's death. Stricken with guilt, Lauryn returns to start bookkeeping like mad at the garage. But Russ realises that he shouldn't have emotionally blackmailed his sister into giving up her dream just to save the garage, and packs her off to the audition. As she arrives, the musical boyfriend gives her a new track he's just finished (it turns out to be the unfinished one she'd encouraged him to finish earlier, no surprise there then). She's too late for the emergency extra auditions, but she throws a completely out of character wobbly and dances anyway. I was very impressed with this - dancing perfectly to a piece of music she hadn't heard before, said dance incorporating things like the piano and steps which are on stage (the locations of which she couldn't have anticipated). So it will come as no surprise to you to learn - guess what - that she passes the audition. The garage goes down the tubes, but what the hey. This movie was drivel. Recycled drivel, at that. But I kind of enjoyed it anyway. Lauryn is a pretty, personable girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Bruce Willis' daughter in Die Hard 4) and quite attractively drawn as a character. She dances OK, too, although the dance sequences don't have the vitality and dynamism of those in, say, Fame, Footloose, Dirty Dancing etc. Don't expect to be surprised at any point, though. Especially after you've read this!

• Awful (with serious spoilers)

  sophie_so_good2008-08-14

  I'm not sure where to start with this film. To start with, I was offended by the fact that her audition routine is criticised for not being 'feminine' or 'sensual' enough. However, she becomes good when she basically lap dances her way in. This is her great adventure. The film attempts to make it seem decent and respectful to women by putting some cheering women in the crowd. Second, the film is basically exactly the same as 'Save the Last Dance', which I enjoyed. The plot is more or less the same, without the racial issues in her area, and less convincing acting. While the plot to Step Up 2 basically fell through, the film was saved by the stunning dance routines. The dancing here was not particularly spellbinding to tell the truth. Finally, the film is so thoroughly formulaic that I basically was able to plan out all the events in the first 10 minutes. Girl goes to audition but is crushed- girl is taken in by friendly girl and is given a book-keepers job- girl meets attractive boy but sees him as being arrogant and not nice- girl makes out with attractive not nice arrogant boy- girl randomly gets on stage and everyone realises she is a star- girl realises her dreams conflict with... things- girl is sent by domineering brother to audition- girl gets into college!!- horrid bitchy person turns out to only have been trying to help her and they are now good friends... Etc Keep your hard earned cash and go see WALL-E instead.

• Stolen

  michael-34342009-03-23

  All this is is a dancing version of Coyote Ugly. Dancing is good but if you have watched Coyote Ugly, you already know what's about to happen. Examples: In both movies there is a colleague who is horrible to them right through the movie... In both movies there is the guy who pretends to be the manager... In both, its all about getting the audition In both, there is a family crisis where they both decide to abandon their dream and run home but first have a good old fashioned drama scene where they abandon their boyfriends... Seriously, if you have watched Coyote Ugly, don't bother watching this one.