Battle of the Year

A hip-hop tycoon (Laz Alonzo), determined to field an American crew to win the annual break-dancing championship in Montpellier, France, hires an old friend as coach (Josh Holloway)—despite the man's drinking problem and haunted past. Director Benson Lee used his 2007 documentary Planet B-Boy as inspiration for this mash-up of dance movie and sports flick, with middling results. Brin Hill and Chris Parker's script is an achievement of sorts: Every single line is a cliché. Holloway glowers like the third runner-up in the Matthew McConaughey Look-alike Contest. Meanwhile, Josh Peck plays his simpering assistant, and Caity Lotz, as the crew's choreographer, has little to do, to little effect. The dancing, by real B-boys Chris Brown, Ivan “Flipz” Velez, Jon “Do Knock” Cruz and others, livens things up, but it's too little too late.