Tacky, outdated 80's dance flick falls flat in the test of time.

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2003)

The dance flick- after the professional death of the musical, the `dance' genre took over in the late 70's with `Saturday Night Fever'. Of course the main problem with this new type of movie was the fact that the music would soon become outdated as times and attitudes went by. And `Flashdance' is the epitome of this doomed genre. Cheesy music, tacky clothes, big hair, fuzzy images- 80's enthusiasts only.
In fact the only times in which this is actually good is when Irene Cara's Oscar winning song swoops onto the soundtrack. So, a good 90% of `Flashdance' is absolute drivel. The limp narrative bumbles along and is weaker than one would have imagined. Perhaps it would have been a better picture had it focused on the protagonist and she alone. But too much attention is put on supporting characters and their boring stories.

Weak, unimaginative, thoroughly formulaic directing styles don't help matters either. To put it as bluntly as possible, there is little if anything good about this perceptibly low-budget film. The main character (Alex) isn't interesting or unusual enough to be worthy of anything more than a passive attention. Alex is nicely, though not brilliantly, portrayed by Jennifer Beals. The (then) 18-year-old actress shows talent but has completely wasted her potential on made-for TV movies ever since. Meanwhile, the unrecognisable supporting players, a who's who of `Where are they now?' are the cinematic equivalent of walking, talking clichés. I could go into depth about how mediocre they are, but I just couldn't be bothered.

If you have photosensitive epilepsy, I advise you to stay away from `Flashdance'. You will either have a seizure or you won't make it out alive. One scene carries on with gratuitous strobe lighting for what seems like 10 minutes. Even if you're not an epileptic, you should stay away. Of course it eventually dances its way to a feel-good end that was semi-parodied in that Geri Halliwell music video. It leaves a good-taste, but doesn't compensate for the unforgivable dross that proceeds.
A flat, shallow effort from everyone involved, the only saving grace is an above average turn from Jennifer Beals and Irene Cara's `What a Feeling'. I could go on for another while, but I'll summarise with this statement. `Flashdance' is a near dancing disaster. My IMDb rating: 3.8/10.