The Soundtrack, the Performers, the Heat, the Cool, the Shirt With No Shoulder....

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2004)

Pittsburgh welder (Jennifer Beals, easily the best looking welder I have ever seen)/night-time exotic dancer dreams of a better life by becoming a ballet dancer. She has nervousness and inferiority complexes galore, but she is a good person with a good heart and soul. Soon she finds love from her day-time boss (Michael Nouri, who knows she is a stripper) and constant encouragement from him and an elderly German lady (the priceless Lilia Skala of "Lilies of the Field" fame some 20 years before this was released). Typical situations occur with soap opera-styled results and a smashing soundtrack that represents the very best the 1980s had to offer in the way of cinematic music dominates the action. What a feeling! "Flashdance" is pretty tame by director Adrian Lyne's standards (think "9 1/2 Weeks", "Fatal Attraction" and "Unfaithful"). This fact does not really benefit or take away from the picture though. The characters are likable, but seem so phony and under-developed. For a time though every girl of the age wore those shirts that hung off one shoulder and every man wanted to be cool like Nouri and be with a hot woman like Beals (ah, the 80s). And of course naturally everyone had to have that soundtrack (which of course was highlighted by "What a Feeling"---the runaway Best Original Song Oscar winner for 1983). The movie is full of pop icon aspects, hot sounds and hotter songs. But when watching the film, you will wonder when is that song I love so much going to be played. Well don't fear, after about 110 minutes of drivel-heavy dialogue your wish will come true. The microcosms of the 1980s in the motion picture business---what a feeling! 2.5 out of 5 stars.