Nostalgia, the soundtrack and a strong lead balance out a weak movie

Rating: 5/10 (27 May 2017)

"Dirty Dancing" is a quintessential '80s movie, yet it takes place in the early 1960s during the waning years of the age of idealism, just before taking family trips to a resort in the Catskill Mountains was out of fashion. That imbues this summer romance movie with two layers of nostalgia, especially 30 years after its release, and it's nostalgia that by and large carries this film for those who love it, with one exception.
The film follows 17-year-old Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey) on her family trip to Kellerman's resort in the summer of 1963. Presumably no longer entertained by line dancing and the full array of family activities, Baby noses into what the resort staff are up to, which is where she sees Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) a dance performer and instructor. Since Johnny and the other dancers have to be on their best behavior and cater to the guests all day, at night they express themselves by having steamy, sensual dance parties. Baby, as proper a good girl as she may be, is helplessly drawn into their world (and Johnny's arms).
That's the story  the plot is that Baby discovers Johnny's dance partner, Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) is pregnant after hooking up with a waiter at the resort and Baby helps her get money for a (then very illegal) abortion, the timing of which would leave Johnny in need of a dance partner, an opening Baby volunteers to fill.
So there's a reason most people forget what actually happens in "Dirty Dancing," which was scandalous for 1987 let alone 1963. The reason they can so easily forget is because it's really a movie about Baby. Her awakening from ideal daughter of a well-to-do family about to go to college and join the peace corps to a risk-taker and rule-defier who in the span of a week falls for a sensitive hunk is a classic fantasy. Baby is not your typical damsel in distress protagonist. She's got a good head on her shoulders. But she's curious. She's never let herself go. A lot of people can identify with that, or remember summer nights when they too wanted to indulge that fantasy.
Baby being a character who so many people can see themselves as is the one strength of "Dirty Dancing" that isn't the choreography, director Emile Ardolino's sensual approach or the amazing soundtrack. The other characters and the scenarios are half-baked, awkward or laughable. That said, tearing into a film as beloved as this one has no real value.
There does, however, feel like a missed opportunity. Writer Eleanor Bergstein undoubtedly drew from her own experience in telling this story, which is why the nostalgia factor is so effective. The premise alone evokes all those summer vacation emotions, meaning the right story would really connect. The problem is she doesn't capitalize. There's absolutely no logic at the basis of anything that happens or the way Baby and Johnny's relationship develops. You could argue that summer flings happen in this magical, ephemeral sort of way, but Bergstein undercooks all the scenes and Ardolino takes a largely serious approach. All the movie's best moments are when the characters let loose and act a little silly, when the script fades away to moments between Baby and Johnny in which Grey and Swayze just get to focus on chemistry.
Other than repeating what "Footloose" already told '80s audiences about everyone needing to just "cut loose," "Dirty Dancing" doesn't have anything to say. It opts to keep a rosy romantic bubble all the way to the credits and serve as a reminder of a certain time in American history; Mr. Kellerman's line at the end about the Catskill resort culture disappearing reveals Bergstein's true goal of simply remembering it. The truth is "Dirty Dancing" is about the 1960s, but it has the spirit and soul of an '80s movie; it's not a period piece but a recollection of one time period from the perspective of another.
Trying to be as objective as possible, "Dirty Dancing" is a stupid movie, but one steeped in nostalgia with a respectable main character and an alluring style. Somehow, against anyone's better judgment, these components manage to create moments of resonance at a universal, multi-generational level, to the point that you can't simply write it off.
~Steven C
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