Celluloid bubblegum

Rating: Null/10 (30 September 2009)

This is possibly one of those films that will remain popular with women who were teenagers when it first came out, but quickly become forgotten when, in another 40-50 years or so, those said women start falling off their perches. My 30-something partner barely moved for its duration, whisked back by its cheesy tunes and Patrick Swayze's finely toned body to her mid-teens for a couple of hours. Afterwards, she admitted that it's pretty stupid, but films that take us back to our youth usually are.
The film briefly made a star of Swayze, and it's not difficult to see why he got the part of the beefcake dancing instructor who uses his looks and movements to seduce the wealthy wives who frequent the summer resort where he works (even though he was probably 10 years too old for the part). But it's Jennifer Grey as Baby who gives the performance of the film for my money, injecting an energetic enthusiasm into the scenes between those in which she is a nervous waif or put-upon younger sister. She's a pretty thing, but her looks are unconventional, and not designed for long-lasting stardom.
The story is pure candy-floss, and not intended to be taken seriously, and there's little attempt at recapturing the fifties era in which the story takes place, but it all looks very handsome and the director captures some moments that even today, nearly a quarter of a century after it was made, remain in the collective movie-going consciousness.