Almost a European movie

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2002)

We just rented this movie to see what it was all about, and the result was quite different from our expectations.
SNF is not just a dance movie. The dancing is one part, and some of the dance scenes are really brilliant (but by todays standards, the music is quite mushy in the rhythm and rather slow). However, these scenes are nicely contrasted with the not-so-hip everyday life of Tony.

Travolta does a very believable portrait of a teenager torn between a rather bleak day life and a hot night life. He feels he could be something, but he has no idea how. He dreams of owning expensive cars, but earns barely enough to support his once-a-week clubbing. He is annoyed by girls that want to have sex with him, due to something that is not entirely clear. But he is really really believable.
Unfortunately, the story does not hang together very well. There is the stuff of a great movie in here, but the story is told in a rather unfocussed way. The end feels like a big "what?", and there are a bit too many unconnected scenes for my liking. The plot just does not follow a logical path.
But it is interesting with the mix of glamourous dancing and social-realistic movie about poor urban youth. Would never be have been made in the past 15 years, due to current Hollywood being scared of such tragic figures.
But it could have been made in Europe, which is big big praise for a American film.