Cease me should you’ve heard this one earlier than: a father and his younger grownup daughter embark on a street journey that takes some comically uncomfortable twists and turns earlier than they’re lastly compelled to say the unsaid issues that created a lot distance between them.
Rick Gomez’s directorial debut “She Dances” doesn’t win any factors for originality, with a premise that could possibly be present in one kind or one other on the pageant circuit in just about yearly for the reason that daybreak of unbiased movie. And it’s just a little too keen to take pleasure in cliches, notably in a primary act that’s dominated by drained plot factors like “the teenage daughter doesn’t know how one can change a flat tire and Dad insists on instructing her” and “the lodge blended up our reservation, so we’re caught on the worst motel on the town.” However even when it provides seasoned viewers trigger to roll their eyes at tropes they’ve seen a thousand occasions earlier than, the movie presents sufficient sincerity and father-daughter chemistry to supply a delicate reminder of why these cliches labored within the first place.
Co-written by Gomez and Steve Zahn, who stars alongside his actual daughter Audrey Zahn, “She Dances” begins with a collection of seemingly comfortable events, however no one appears to be having fun with them as a lot as they should be. Jason (Zahn) and his longtime enterprise accomplice Brian (Ethan Hawke) are getting ready to promote their microdistillery (named Two Jacks, on account of the truth that they met in school when each of their sons have been named Jack) to a liquor conglomerate that guarantees to make it “the largest bourbon on this planet.” It’s a deal that would set them each up with generational wealth, however Jason’s plans to spend the weekend entertaining his consumers and shutting the deal are upended when his ex-wife enlists him to drive his daughter Claire (Audrey Zahn), to a dance event upstate. He initially bristles on the inconvenience, however Brian encourages him to go. It’s Claire’s final dance event earlier than she heads to school, and she or he needs somebody to be there.
As soon as he accepts the job, Jason demonstrates an admirable dedication to bond with a daughter he’s not notably shut with. However his desires of constructing father-daughter reminiscences are upended when he finds out he’s liable for driving her her finest good friend Kat (Mackenzie Ziegler) as properly. He quickly finds himself hauling two teenage ladies who need nothing to do with him to a event after which immersing himself within the surprisingly intense world of youth dance competitions.
It quickly turns into clear why every thing feels so off at what must be a joyful interval in everybody’s life. The household remains to be grieving the current loss of life of Jason’s son Jack, and no one has sufficiently processed it. Jason medicated with self-destructive habits and throwing himself into his job, whereas Claire poured all of her feelings into her dancing. Because the journey forces everybody to confront their feelings, the daddy and daughter each must ask themselves whether or not the paths they’re on symbolize what they actually need.
Whereas the movie suffers from some flat, uninspired writing, the ensemble solid brings sufficient high quality character work to the desk to make sure it stays watchable. Steve Zahn seamlessly steps into main man standing, delivering a nuanced efficiency that refreshingly presents the estranged father archetype as an excellent man who constantly tries his finest to be there for everybody round him. Hawke solely reveals up for a couple of key scenes, however he gives the proper quantity of charisma and empathy as a involved finest good friend who captures how the world sees this damaged household and displays it again to them. And Audrey Zahn provides a improbable debut efficiency, embodying the burdens of a teenage lady who has already endured unimaginable tragedy and shouldered the burden in a state of solitude.
These performances are sufficient to salvage the movie, and “She Dances” finally ends up being a candy, honest viewing expertise that sometimes transcends its standing as an off-the-rack street journey dramedy. It’s unlikely to be remembered as something greater than an excuse for Steve Zahn to make a film together with his daughter, which ought to find yourself being a surprisingly becoming legacy for a movie about how treasured and fleeting moments could be.
Grade: B-
“She Dances” premiered on the 2025 Tribeca Movie Pageant. It’s at the moment in search of U.S. distribution.
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