A nice piece of movie-candy, though with some gross, inappropriate humor...

Rating: 6/10 (26 March 2006)

From the soundtrack music to the break dancing to Jennifer Beals' big poof 'do, everything about "Flashdance" looks and feels like old news. Even the steel mill setting is passé (most of the steel mills in Pennsylvania went under due to Japan's steel at cheaper prices). However, at the time of its release, "Flashdance" was a piece of movie-candy, with a romance subplot between welder/dancer Beals and boss Michael Nouri that is exceptionally sweet. Lilia Skala has a pleasant supporting bit as a former ballerina and the late Sunny Johnson (who died while this picture was still in theaters) shows echoes of Sharon Tate in "Valley of the Dolls": vulnerable, naked, and touchingly doomed playing Beals' ice-skater friend. Unfortunately, there are some really ungainly jokes in the film (re: 'honkies', small penises, Polish jokes, a gross lesbian joke, and a real stinker about cockroaches in hamburgers), but the basic outline of the picture, corny though it may be, still works a little magic. It's hard not to get worked up by the propulsive editing in the final scenes and during Beals' "Maniac" number. But looking at it now is just a little bit embarrassing. **1/2 from ****