Excruciating ... an unwieldy hybrid of high school dance competition movie and shameless flag-waver.

First-time director Daniel Duran, working from a screenplay by Oscar Torres that abounds in the maudlin and risible, isn't able to lift the ham-handed material to a place where it might ring true.

If only salutary intentions and one good performance could save a film so fundamentally wrongly conceived.

It has heartwarming moments and interesting back-and-forth between characters, while keeping its story simple, if a little on the sappy side in the end. Not a bad start to Duran's directing career.