Movie review: ‘Step Up All In’ hits its stride in Vegas

• This outing’s dance crew is from Los Angeles, led by Miami transplant Sean (Ryan Guzman).
• Long the franchise’s most charming character, Moose gets both a dance solo and a plot thread.
• Grade: C-minus. Rated PG-13.
• Now playing at the Biltmore Grande and Carmike.

If you’re reading a review of “Step Up: All In,” the fifth in this low-rent dance film franchise, I’m guessing you have one of two motivations. Either you have some lingering affection for the series and hope this one will be better than the last, or you’re looking to be amused by a merciless shredding of a piece of schlock cinema.

I’m afraid I’m more likely to disappoint the venom-seekers than the dance fans here, although that’s not to say that “Step Up: All In” achieves the heated cheesiness of, say, “Magic Mike.” No, it’s not that good, and casual viewers need to be warned of its cardboard characters and paint-by-numbers story line.

But here’s what “All In” gets right that its predecessor, “Step Up: Revolution,” did not: Lots more dancing, lots less plot, thank you very much.

“Does it always have to end up in a big, giant dance battle?” asks ever-present Moose (Adam Sevani) early on, and of course the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Moviegoers aren’t buying tickets for Occupy Miami (the “Revolution” plot). We want Vegas, baby, and this “Step Up” delivers exactly that kind of impossible, over-the-top dance finale set in Sin City itself.

This outing’s dance crew is from Los Angeles, led by Miami transplant Sean (Ryan Guzman), from “Revolution,” and including several returning hoofers from installments 2, 3 and 4.

Freshly single Sean has a new sparring partner, Andie (Briana Evigan), from “Step Up 2,” and Moose — who appears in four of the five films — is back in the Donald O’Connor, second-fiddle role he had in “3D.” The lanky Sevani, whose moves channel Michael Jackson, has long been the franchise’s most charming presence, so it’s nice he gets both a brief dance solo and his own plot thread.

The dialog is mostly just functional, but occasionally better, as when delivered by Moose’s “old country” grandparents, Ana (Karin Konoval) and Boris (Frank Crudele), who give the film a dose of dignity.

The series still suffers from over-editing and under-writing, which makes the non-dance sequences tiresome and some of the dances choppy. But if you can bear 85 minutes of tepid drama, occasionally interrupted by lively, unfocused dance numbers, the 20-minute finale is worth waiting for. And if you pay for the 3D upgrade, you’ll even get sand kicked in your face. That’s about as gritty as this series gets.

Grade: C-minus. Rated PG-13. Now playing at the Biltmore Grande and Carmike.