Holiday Spin (Spoilers)

Our story begins with Blake (Garrett Clayton) entering his mother Roxy's (Erika Eleniak) dance studio.  Blake then goes to the gym where we see him training to be a mixed martial artist.  Later the two of them are discussing Thanksgiving plans and how happy Roxy is with her little studio.  After a minor argument Roxy pulls into traffic without looking at the road (never a good idea).  A collision occurs and . . . exit Erika Eleniak (I guess all that talk about how happy she was with her life choices was kind of a forewarning.) and enter Ralph Macchio as Ruben.  Blake wakes up in the hospital to find out he has lost his mother and meets Ruben, the father he never knew.  Blake has to go with Ruben because he isn't 18 yet and still a minor.

Ruben takes Blake to Miami (The most Christmassy place in the world!) where he also runs a dance studio.  Blake is then introduced to Ruben's fiance Emily (Karen Olivo) and Ruben's dance protege Pia (Allie Bertram).  Blake is obviously troubled as he's just lost his mother, had to leave his home and deeply resents the father who abandoned him.  If that doesn't scream Christmas movie then I don't know what does.  Pia is not only cute but has an immediate crush on Blake which would only be more obvious if she handed him a promise ring upon their first meeting and asked if he preferred spring or summer weddings.  Pia is currently dating her dance partner Rob (Benji Schwimmer), a narcissistic and crass shmuck.  Luckily, Pia soon breaks up with her a-hole dance boyfriend, Rob, (both personally and professionally) after she catches him cheating on her.

She goes through several new dance partners for the famous Holiday Spin dance competition before Blake finally decides to admit he knows how to dance and becomes her partner.  While Blake is nice towards Pia and step-fiance Emily, he is constantly finding ways to express his disdain towards Ruben.  I expected there to be some "special explanation" that would mitigate the situation, but the movie never attempted to make Ruben more sympathetic.  It turns out Ruben was just a sorry, child abandoning, bum who put his own career ahead of any family and never tried to reach out to Blake and have a relationship.  The middle of the movie is basically Blake and Pia getting closer while Rob always in the background causing the family trouble.  This includes (though never proven to be Rob) the trashing of the dance studio which threatens to put Ruben out of business.  Now the only way to save the Studio is to win the All-Valley Karate Championship Tournament . . . . errrr . . . . sorry, flashback . . . the Holiday Spin Competition.

I'm not sure that picking a fight with an MMA fighter in training is ever going to considered a bright idea but that's EXACTLY what a-hole Rob does next.  If you are a world class dancer but can't beat someone in a dance off, obviously next best thing is to challenge him at his specialty - street fighting!  I'll give him credit, Rob does acquit himself fairly well and for a short time it even seems as if he might actually win (I guess male dancers are universally teased so they ALL learn how to fight?).  Blake eventually gains the upper hand (I mean he IS the son of the MF'ing Karate Kid!).  Blake then uses that same upper hand to repeatedly pummel Rob's face while the kid is lying defenseless on the ground (Come on, he was fair game.  He never tapped out!).  Now the police arrive (What???  Who called the cops and how did they get here so fast?  Is there a Donut shop a few doors down?) and Blake is arrested.  At this point I'm assuming a-hole Rob knew he would lose and called the cops himself because he wanted to get Blake in trouble.  I mean, other than the incredibly high risk of a gruesome permanent injury or death, it seems like a pretty good plan to me.

While Blake is in custody, Pia confronts Rob and by goading his vanity she gets Rob to drop all charges in exchange for . . . a kiss.  So Blake is free with Pia and a-hole Rob is . . . okay, what exactly was the point here Rob?  What did this accomplish again?  One thing I love about movie fights is how, despite these guys battering each other repeatedly (I mean at one point Rob swings this thick wooden post at Blake who has to block it with his arm) both look fine afterwards.  Rob doesn't seem to have even minor facial swelling despite being punched repeatedly in the face and neither one seems to have so much as a noticeable bruise, mild soreness, messy hair, etc.  That's what I love about these movies, the gritty realism.  Now let the dancing begin!

As the competition approaches, Blake and Pia's relationship deteriorates after she refuses to kiss him.  She does this because he has already stated his intention to leave as soon as possible.  Despite the inherent validity of her position, Blake goes all inner teen angst and decides to just skip town so he can feel sorry for himself back in the Carolinas in his dead mom's studio (if it hasn't been foreclosed by now).  Before he leaves though, he watches some videos given him by Danielson (Ruben) which show that his father did indeed track his life from a distance (videos from a dance competition when Blake was younger).  This now makes it "all good", Blake returns and we head to the Spin.  I'll skip forward a bit here and  . . . THEY WIN!!!  The Studio is saved!  Blake and Pia also kiss, Blake decides to stay in town, expresses an interest in patching things up with Ruben and THE END!!!  

I must admit that for much of the movie I kept thinking that Ralph Macchio looked a little young to have an 18 year old son.  Then I found out the guy is actually 50+ years old.  I mean Holy Cow . . . nobody can play young, pitiful and pathetic like Ralph Machio.  The guy is a true blue Hollywood professional. 

Clayton may look like a poor man's Zac Efron but the kid can dance.  It is tough to bash on his character coming off as somewhat unlikeable because he's playing a kid dealing with some pretty tramautic stuff in his life.  Bertram is probably a bit too overt with her schoolgirl level 'insta-crush' on Blake but both of them are skilled dancers and the teen romance was credible.  Macchio showed a little bit of his dancing chops also and Olivia, while limited in screen time, gave a good performance.  I give this a 3 out of 5.