I went into seeing this movie with low expections, and it met them all. There was no story, no plot or character development, very little conflict, coherence, pacing, clean editing, good dancing, or even good acting. The Spanish is quickly spoken and not subtitled. The "lovers" face almost no opposition. The subplot about the revolution in Cuba never gets fully explained. The worst part of the movie is how little it uses Patrick Swayze, the only skilled dancer in the whole production. Sure, his face looks all shriveled, but you can't fault the man for aging. The marketing ploy of calling this movie
Dirty Dancing really backfired, as it naturally incites people to make comparisons to "the original," when the two have almost nothing in common, and a comparison definitely leaves this one lacking. Perhaps if it had been its own movie, perhaps entitled
Dancing in Cuba, it might have fared better. See it for the moments of Swayze reliving his days of fifteen years earlier. Otherwise, you should see
Strictly Ballroom or
"the original" Dirty Dancing.
--A.Y.