Dirty Dancing (1987)

Yes that's right. I somehow made it through 20 years of being a female without ever having seen Dirty Dancing. As most of you probably already know, Dirty Dancing is about Baby Houseman (Jennifer Grey) and her family's trip to a summer resort in the Catskill Mountains. There Baby meets Johnny (Patrick Swayze), a dance instructor, and the two spend the summer mamboing away. While Baby’s father disapproves of the relationship, I bet you can all guess what happens in the end. If you can’t, here’s a link to the video, which won’t embed.

Now I may have just been in a bad mood while I was watching this (it was a rainy day), but this movie just annoyed me. My first problem with it is the title. Albeit there is one scene that is, for lack of better words, a dance floor orgy, but besides that, the rest of the movie is spent ballroom dancing. I wouldn’t exactly call something I can watch on prime time TV “dirty”. My second problem is the fact that Baby’s father hates Johnny because he thinks Johnny got a girl pregnant and made her get an unprofessional abortion. Somehow, no one bothers to clear this misunderstanding up until the last night at camp when the kid who actually got her pregnant unintentionally confesses. I’d much rather tell the air-clearing truth than have to live under tension for any amount of time. My third problem is that no one in this movie smiles. Ever. Baby has a few obnoxious laughing outbursts, but besides that, these people seem downright miserable.

Again, this may only be the unpleasant weather talking, but I would have to say that I am just not a fan of this movie. While I don’t think it’s necessarily distinctly an 80s film, it has a perfect amount of 80s cheesiness reminiscent of its era. I wouldn’t rule out recommending this movie, however, I would strongly suggest not watching this while in a bad mood.