There's a nice little dance movie waiting to step out of "Save the Last Dance." Unfortunately, the story keeps tripping it up.

To be more specific, the film continually breaks away from the more lively part of its story — as if to say that the dance story line isn't important enough to merit a film of its own. But it's actually the socially conscious elements that don't work here.

Not that this muddled drama's statements about racial tolerance — mostly involving interracial relationships — isn't a welcome one. However, it's done in such a heavy-handed, even contrived, manner that it manages to drag down the whole film.

Add to that Thomas Carter's rather uninspired direction and some extremely inconsistent characterizations, and what could have been a decent movie quickly turns into just another mediocre one.

That said, what really stands out here, besides the lively dance routines, is the cast. Julia Stiles stars as Sara Johnson, a Chicago high school student who was once a promising ballerina but now has turned her back on dance after the death of her mother. She's also had to leave her comfortable home in exchange for a somewhat cozier apartment on the south side with her jazz musician father (an underused Terry Kinney).

If that isn't enough, she's also in a new high school — one with a mostly black student body. So she's fortunate to become fast friends with Chenille (Kerry Washington), an unwed mother who takes her under her wing.

Chenille also introduces Sara to her brother, star student Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas, from TV's "The District"), and despite their very different backgrounds, they hit it off.

But there are a few things standing in the way of their romance, primarily her guilt about her past, as well as his somewhat shady connections to a dangerous fellow student (actor/rapper Fredro Starr).

Again, the film probably would have been better off had the filmmakers decided to play it out as a sort of urban "Dirty Dancing," rather than a contemporary "Romeo and Juliet." The script (by a pair of newcomers) isn't nearly as lively or as subtle as it needs to be, and the preachy dialogue makes every scene seem twice as long as it needs to be.

However, the cast members do their best to salvage as much of the movie as they can. As an actress, Stiles can come off as somewhat patrician and there's a slight smugness to her performance, but she's got more chemistry with Thomas than you might expect.

Speaking of Thomas, he and relative newcomer Washington are the real stars, giving performances that are probably better than the material deserves.

"Save the Last Dance" is rated PG-13 for occasional profanity, violence (gunplay and a couple of scuffles), lewd dancing, use of crude gestures and slang, as well as some racial epithets, and a brief, discreet sex scene. Running time: 110 minutes

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