Dancing in Handcuffs

Rating: 4/10 (12 July 2015)

You have to really try hard to get me to not like a movie whose main theme is dancing (especially, learning to dance). You have to really try hard to get me to not like a film with Patrick Swayze.., and/or Jennifer Grey in it. I liked Swayze in Donnie Darko, Roadhouse and Ghost. I liked Grey in F.B's Day Off and Wind.
This film was not just mediocre in its dialogue, production and yes, it's dancing: It was actually obnoxious: (the ever-present, glowering, rich Jew who was the owner of the Jewish summer camp for Jewish families. Everything was askew in this film: Grey's embarrassingly-conventional garb, in contrast to the people she associated with, was hard to watch.
Swayze's and Greys dancing was stiff, rehearsed and inexpressive. It was as though they knew the moves, but did not know how to express their lives through the dance. (A little smiling would have helped).
The abortion reference and inclusion in the plot did not sit well with me. I did not find this entertaining, and when the young man said, "I could hear her screaming in the hall.", I pressed eject. What I find particularly appalling about this abortion content is one line, issued by the Jewish "father" of the child (the mother was gentile), in reference to the woman he impregnated: "some people matter.., and some don't."
I could not help but think he may have meant gentiles (non-jews) in general. We see in Dirty Dancing how the other main gentile in the movie is cast as the "bad boy".
What Dirty Dancing needed was a more dynamic character played by Jennifer Grey. She would have certainly been capable of it. If you are going to create tension: (a 30-something lady-killer with a younger woman), then bring it to a crescendo and "burn down the house". Complete the transformation of demure "Baby" (sic) to the defiant and autonomous Frances.
Swayze needed to have a life outside of dancing, perhaps taking on the restrictive (and possibly elitist) management of the resort. We needed to see a "barn-burner" in Dirty Dancing with hotter, more expressive dancing and a much-greater development of the main characters' identities. Grey's character needed to complete and fulfill her transformation. Swayze needed to interact more forcefully and cleverly with his antagonists.
Swayze's original partner, played by Cynthia Rhodes, may have been much-better played by fire-brand Demi Moore, his later beloved in Ghost. A professional salsa/meringue/ dancer may have been even better, because the acting was not especially difficult. Moore would have rectified this role.
I object strongly to abortion being tossed into a picture to liven-up what is a still-dreary-and-now-morose film. It is cheap.., and it is disrespectful. I would have given a "5" to Dirty Dancing, appreciating some of the difficulties the couple went through and because of the fairly-good acting by Swayze and Grey, but the tactless inclusion of abortion (as excitement) caused me to detract one star. Choose life. Stand and fight.
The full-fledged transformation we need from Dirty Dancing never happens, and we are left wondering who these people really are. Watch Bootmen, Center Stage, Flashdance or Shall We Dance, instead: Much-better movies.