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Harmless fodder for the American Idol generation but somewhat mind-numbing for the rest of us, ‘Make it Happen’ follows the fortunes of budding dancer Lauryn as she pursues her lifelong dream to…well, you know the rest. Aiding her on this quest are the usual cast of forgettable, snap-talkin’ homegirls, whose principal claim to originality is using the word ‘sexy’ as a noun (as in ‘Girl, you got to find your sexy!’).
Despite boundless energy and some surprisingly artful photography, ‘Make it Happen’ is never more than product. Cheap, abysmally scripted and utterly soulless, the film contents itself with running every cliché in the dance-movie playbook, checking off characters (rival dancer, blue-collar big brother, hip but heartfelt love interest) and situations (the big audition, the inevitable discovery of that elusive ‘sexy’) which were tired when ‘Flashdance’ came out. The only surprise, for a pre-teen PG fantasy, is how much the characters drink – these girls can put away a triple shot of tequila without blinking.