Stomp the Yard

Theatrical Release Date: 2007 01 12 (USA)

UPC: 043396179592

Studio: Sony Pictures

MPAA Rating: PG13   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: A young man finds that the moves he learned on the street may help him make a better life for himself in this youth-oriented musical drama. DJ Williams (Columbus Short) is a 19-year-old growing up in Los Angeles; while DJ is at heart a good kid and a gifted street dancer, he runs with a dangerous crowd, and one night an underground dance competition turns into a brawl and DJ ends up in jail. DJ's younger brother has already died a violent death, and his mother, hoping to put him back on the straight and narrow, sends DJ off to Truth University, a historically African-American college in Atlanta. At first, DJ feels like a misfit at Truth, but when he gets a chance to show off his dancing skills, he attracts the attention of two campus fraternities. Greek life is a major presence at Truth, and each year the fraternities take part in a "stepping" competition, in which the members show off their synchronized dance moves. DJ joins the ONO house, and is eager to help them take the championship away from their campus rivals, but in time he also comes to understand the brotherhood and community service that's a key part of his fraternity's background. DJ also has more on his mind than dancing and studying when he meets April (Meagan Good), a beautiful coed. Produced under the title Steppin', Stomp the Yard also stars Ne-Yo, Brian J. White, and Jermaine Williams. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Stomp the Yard

Format: Universal Media Disc

Release Date: 05/15/2007

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Alternate Wide Screen

Audio: 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 114 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French

Subtitles: English,French

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Derek Armstrong

Stomp the Yard falls somewhere between You Got Served and Drumline among films where people bust a move as a form of dissing each other, while their opponents roll their eyes and scoff. In fact, it's so utterly conventional, the only way to meaningfully discuss it is to compare it to other films like it. Those who don't expect anything more than that, however, will probably like Stomp the Yard just fine. The key in films like this is to find a dramatic lead who can actually do the dance moves, and in former choreographer Columbus Short, they've made an adequate choice. Short holds the film together pretty well and demonstrates a solid range of emotions. The presence of Harry Lennix as his uncle is always welcome, as well. Still, there isn't a single surprise throughout the running time of Stomp the Yard. Among the genres whose most generic templates it follows are the fish-out-of-water movie, the life-on-the-big-campus movie, the overcoming-parental-disapproval movie, and of course, the David-vs.-Goliath-competition movie, which pretty much describes every competition movie out there. Perhaps the form of the competition -- "stepping," or the more institutionalized and synchronized version of street dancing -- is supposed to set the movie apart. But Stomp the Yard had the misfortune of coming out just after a whole spate of similar movies, none of which can hold a candle to the electrifying documentary treatment of the subject matter in Rize. Generally, Stomp the Yard is competent enough to qualify as a crowd pleaser. But it doesn't add anything new to the conversation, and perhaps more crucially, it doesn't pass on a contagious sense of the spine-tingling excitement of this dance form. The moves have had the life edited out of them in search of a pervasive middle ground. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Robert Adetuyi  Screenwriter 
Rob Hardy  Executive Producer 
Gregory Anderson  Screenwriter 
Tim Boland  Composer (Music Score) 
Sylvain White  Director 
Sam Retzer  Composer (Music Score) 
Will Packer  Producer 
Columbus Short  Actor 
Meagan Good  Actor 
Ne-Yo  Actor 
Darrin Dewitt Henson  Actor 
Brian J. White  Actor 
Laz Alonso  Actor 
Valarie Pettiford  Actor 
Jermaine Williams  Actor 
Allan Louis  Actor 
Harry J. Lennix  Actor 
Chris Brown  Actor 

Country: USA