![]() ![]() But “Dirty Dancing” is a dance movie, and Breslin, while competent, is not a dazzling performer. This is not to specifically ding lead Abigail Breslin, who is quite winning during the scenes where Baby is called upon to express emotions. The average ABC viewer can see better on an off-week of “Dancing With the Stars.” And there’s barely even dancing: The production attached “Hamilton” choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, but it’s unclear what they did with his talents, because dance sequences do not take up much of the film’s runtime, and what is seen is sadly below par. What stands out most, surprisingly, is the smallest of details - the cast doesn’t sweat, even while they are dancing in the hot summer, or while they are making love in the middle of the humid night. Nearly every element of the film that caught worldwide audiences’ imaginations has been sanded down into an advertisement-ready imagining of the swinging ‘60s. And you could watch it and enjoy it for none of those reasons, because the dancing - a hornier take on ballroom - is fantastic fun.Īnd yet Hollywood’s headlong passion for plucking beloved pieces of pop culture out of the past and polishing them with a slick sheen of mediocre nostalgia has claimed even this raw, unpolished gem: “ Dirty Dancing” on ABC is a sappy, passionless, schlocky remake of the original, without even the iota of imagination necessary to expand upon the 1987 film. ![]() It’s a hot, sexy, synth-heavy movie, and Swayze and Grey have white-hot chemistry that contrasts nicely with the measured dignity of her character Baby’s relationship with her beloved father (Jerry Orbach). The film, starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, more or less stages a meet-cute around a botched abortion, and it doesn’t stop there set at an idyllic Jewish resort in the Catskills, the film grapples with class, coming-of-age and feminism as much as it grapples with sweaty thighs and tight spandex. There is not enough space here to fully engage with what is so lovely about the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing,” an unconventional, gritty, sexy dance-romance that has become one of the most beloved films of the ‘80s. Oh, and one of the characters solves racism. Is it wide-eyed homage or larceny? Let’s add a confounding element: The only thing that’s changed is that the new version is bloated with seven or eight slick musical numbers, where the characters suddenly start singing the lyrics to the well-known songs that make up the soundtrack. Same location, same era, same characters, and frequently, even the same dialogue. Take any film you love, in any genre - “Star Wars: A New Hope,” “Eraserhead,” “9 to 5,” whatever - and imagine it reshot, nearly scene-for-scene, with a cast of new actors inhabiting the exact same story.
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