Sara (Julia Stiles) is a ballet dancer with aspirations for Juliard. On the day of her big audition, she wants nothing more than for her mother to be there to lend support. As it becomes more and more obvious that her mother isn't going to show up, Sara becomes frustrated and it affects her audition.

What Sara isn't aware of, however, is that while her mother is rushing to get to the audition, she is involved in a car accident and killed. When Sara finds out, she is overcome with guilt and gives up dancing.

To make matters worse, she finds herself living with her estranged father (Terry Kinney) in his South Side Chicago apartment. To say that their relationship is strained is to severely overestimate the word's descriptive abilities.

This is one of many places in the film where it takes a potential cliché and does something entirely anti-Hollywood -- it infuses it with real human interaction. You see, a lesser film would have painted Kinney's character as an absentee father and then erased him from the film. Instead, the film allows screen time to show his struggle with the situation. There isn't a magical third act reconciliation that blind sides us. We see Sara and her father try to figure out how to accept each other.

Another place Save The Last Dance could have taken a wrong step is the situation with Sara's new school. Being Chicago's South Side, she winds up being one of the few white students in a predominantly black school. Here's an example of how the film could have gone wrong: During English class on Sara's first day, the class is discussing In Cold Blood. The teacher assumes Sara won't know the material, but she surprises everyone by speaking up with her opinion, apparently knowing more than any of her classmates. A lesser movie would have stopped here, using this scene to prove how much smarter the new white girl is than all the black students. She would have been accepted by some and found resentment from others. Instead, we're introduced to Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas). Derek sees a flaw in Sara's opinion and sparks a debate. She isn't the only one with a brain.

Sara immediately resents Derek, so naturally they must eventually fall for each other. Again, the film could have gone wrong, yet handles it well. Sara's relationship with Derek is important because he inspires her to deal with her emotions concerning her mother's death and consider dancing again.

Unfortunately, for all that the movie gets right, it does manage to fall flat in a couple of areas. The obligatory conflict must develop between the budding lovers. As is the case in many films, this conflict comes across as slightly contrived and doesn't quite match the intelligence of the rest of the film.

Still, the film works on most levels and is an example of solid entertainment. The dance choreography is fresh and exciting and the acting on all levels plays just right.

Paramount has released this DVD and I've noticed something about their discs recently. Over the past year, the studio has been gradually increasing the amount of extra content. Save The Last Dance is an example of this. It's not listed as a special edition, and yet it includes an impressive array of supplements.