There are so many movies about how a ragtag group of moderately-talented individuals has to come together as a team or unit to win the big game or whatever that it’s a genre unto itself. Into that field steps this week’s Netflix-original Step Sisters. Megan Echikunwoke plays Jamilah, a driven college senior with ambitions to attend Harvard Law School and embark on a gloriously-successful career. She’s put everything else on hold, including participating in the step dance team she’s long been a part of.
Her plans are interrupted when a sorority full of entitled white girls embarrasses the university she attends. Jamilah is coerced by the dean of the school to help rehabilitate the school’s image by turning those sorority girls into a champion dance crew of their own. While she has an ally in Beth (Eden Sher from “The Middle”), that’s about the only one she can count on. Jamilah hides her coaching activities from her friends and is frustrated by the lack of rhythm, coordination and teamwork by the girls she’s trying to help.
Cinematic Slant 