When Broad Green Pictures hit financial turbulence last year, they cut ties with a number of their upcoming projects. The sorority comedy Step Sisters was meant to hit theaters long before now but was pulled from the schedule then dropped by its distributor altogether, only for Netflix to come swooping to the rescue. And you know what? It was probably a step in the right direction (pun intended) because this looks better suited to the streaming giant than your local multiplex.
Directed by Charles Stone III, who gave us the vastly underrated Drumline, the film stars Megalyn Echikunwoke (Damsels in Distress, Vixen in The CW’s Arrowverse) as the flawless captain of a college step crew who is asked to teach a spoiled, mostly-white sorority how to step. The Bring It On-esque plot should be richer than it sounds thanks to a script by Dear White People‘s Chuck Hayward, who is once again weaving in the theme of racial identity. The trailer isn’t bad, but I suspect this movie might actually be much better than it looks.
Here’s the synopsis: Jamilah Bishop (Megalyn Echikunwoke) seems to excel at everything: She’s president of her sorority, captain of the step crew, liaison to the college dean and a star student who is on her way to to Harvard Law School. But when Jamilah is asked to teach a misbehaving, mostly white sorority how to step, success seems impossible. Without telling her own sorority sisters, Jamilah begins training rivals Sigma Beta Beta (SBB) for the “Steptacular” competitive dance competition.
Also starring Matt McGorry, Naturi Naughton, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Marque Richardson, Eden Sher, Lyndon Smith, and Gage Golightly, Step Sisters premieres on Netflix on January 19th.
