In an earlier rant about the remake of DIRTY DANCING I called this remake a "giant cluster%$#@". Well...I take that back now that I've seen it as cluster$^#@ is probably a little too strong to describe how sucky it is.
I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it either. It's practically the original script - I was quoting lines before they happened - with a few minor changes to the story. Ren's mother didn't move to Bomont with him, she died and they raced school buses instead of tractors. Everything else was the same down to the soundtrack, costumes and final freeze frame before the end credits! There were a few more contemporary songs used, but the main songs were all the same.
The dance sequences had hip modern moves instead of daggy 80s ones and the film as a whole had more of a country vibe than the original which was a little more rednecky. The performances were pretty average, which was not surprising seeing as the two main characters are dancers by profession not actors. Kenny Wormald has a few screen credits as a "dancer" and Julianne Hough is basically the same although she had a named character in BURLESQUE. Dennis Quaid was ok, he seemed to have a pretty good grasp on his character, but I'm not sure what happened to Andie MacDowell, but the few lines she did have were poorly delivered and she might as well not have been there!
Best performance was Willard who was played by Miles Teller. Willard was my favourite in the original with his quirky lines and the scenes where he learns to dance and it was my favourite in this version. Teller's only film credit was from earlier in the year where he starred in RABBIT HOLE with Nicole Kidman, so he's not an experienced screen actor, but he had the best character portrayal by far!
Whoever was in charge of continuity did a terrible job, so keep an eye out for editing mistakes - some subtle and others not so much. For example Ren speeds off from school in his beetle that doesn't have an engine cover and by the time he gets to point b in the same scene he miraculously has an engine cover!! FAIL!
I think they're hoping that the film is going to bring in a whole new audience rather than the devotees of the original, but I'm not sure that's going to happen seeing as I told someone I'd just come back from a screening for it and they were like "what's that?". I explained it was a remake of the original and the response was "they're remaking that?". I think it's going to be a bit too daggy for the kids - let's face it, it was daggy in the 80s - and I think most devotees are the same as me: skeptical and feeling like the whole thing is a bit sacrilegious.
1 out of 5
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