Sidelined is based on the book written by Tay Marley and directed by Justin Wu. The story follows a girl named Dallas (Siena Agudong), a dancer trying to get into a prestigious dance school. She lives with her brother Nathan (Drew Ray Tanner) as they both cope with the loss of their parents. At school, Dallas meets Drayton (Noah Beck), a popular quarterback who also has struggles of his own. Will their relationship grow stronger, or will life’s challenges pull them apart?

I enjoyed this film and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Sidelined stands out as being different to other films in this genre. The story didn’t take the approach of having any mean or toxic characters, some characters could be show offy and confident but none were mean or had anger issues. This was also one of the rare school films to not have bullies, which was another highlight. Dallas was badass in this film, Siena did a fantastic job at portraying her character as strong yet sometimes comedic, especially in how she acted with Drayton. Noah and Siena both played off each other and could both be quite badass at times. One scene that stood out to me was when Dallas got Drayton to clean and kicked out a spot, that scene was funny but also showed a more cool badassness to her character. The relationship between Dallas and Nathan I loved, although they were siblings they were best friends and also open and comfortable sharing things with each other, as well as Nathan having to be a parent figure. Siena had great chemistry with both Drew and Noah, you could tell when watching the cast had lots of fun. Sidelined not only has fun moments but could also be quite deep and serious with some surprisingly emotional moments. Subtle moments appear throughout the story that most viewers might not think twice about—for example, a character getting a little annoyed or angry when someone decides to walk home alone. At first, it might seem a bit strange or viewers won’t think much of it at all and brush it aside, but later on, this is explained why and everything makes sense. Numerous characters in this film wore jackets especially blue or denim jackets throughout, this was a great style choice to add. 

I had the opportunity to speak with the talented Siena Agudong and Drew Ray Tanner. Siena shared that, as both a producer and actor, she infused elements of her own culture into the film, adding a personal touch to the story. She also revealed that while preparing for her dance scenes she trained lots and found it challenging. Drew reflected on how he instantly connected with Siena, allowing them to build chemistry effortlessly. He also said they did lots of improvisation that helped share their on-screen dynamic.

Sidelined did need some improvements. I would have liked the film to have been more comedic at times, and for some of the comedy to have been slightly improved. Another thing I would have liked is for the film to explore the more emotional and deeper moments more as when these characters talk about how sad things happen they don’t explain how certain people died, and they just brushed the surface maybe to keep the film more light, but I did think they could have explore the more emotional or sad moments for both Dallas and Draytons characters. 

Overall Sidelined the QB and Me is a fantastic film with a great fun story, some emotional heartfelt moments, romance and a great cast. I highly recommend watching! 4 🌟