Girl with the Cinderblock Garden

So I've got to write a review about the remake. Before I start, let me preface by saying I adore the original, it's one of my all time favourite films (and I'm a huge cinephile). When I find out they were remaking it I was sceptical. Remakes tend to be awful, aside from Hairspray (2007) that is. Dirty Dancing is a classic, no matter your age. Anyway, on to my review. First off I'd like to start by saying I saw the ending first. I was at a client's house and I saw from Lisa playing the ukulele with Marco right through to the end. I did have to think, 'What is this shit and why on earth have they added this piece of crap ending onto it?' But then I thought, I need to see this all the way through. Fast forward to 5 hours later, and I'm fully prepared for a shit show that is going to waste 3 hours of my life with the only saving grace being that Colt Prattes aka Johnny Castle might just be the most beautiful human being I have ever seen. Imagine my surprise though when I realised, 'you know what, I actually really enjoy this'. Now, I still find the ending awful, and it breaks my heart that these writers don't believe Johnny and Baby end up together. But, the rest of it isn’t so bad, and let me tell you why.

The casting and characters: 

First, I’ll start with Abigail Breslin as Baby. This was the biggest WTF for me. When I saw they’d cast her I was like ‘why?’. Don’t get me wrong, I love her as an actress. Little Miss Sunshine is a fantastic film and really showed her acting chops at such a young age. But as Baby, I was like ‘no!’. I have to say though, I was wrong. She was similar in age to what Baby is supposed to be, and she portrays Baby as a fierce woman who knows her own mind and what she wants. I particularly love the scene in which she’s learning to dance, and Johnny tells her to pretend like she has rhythm. The way she keeps dancing before realising what he’s just said, and then turns to look at him with almost a glare on my face is great. I also love the scene after Johnny rebuffs her in the dance hall, and she goes to his cabin to give him what for. She has this raw intensity, and I as the audience truly believe that she’s so heartbroken that she’s given herself to this guy and he’s just brushed her off like nothing happened. 

Next, Colt Prattes as Johnny. I didn’t know who he was before this movie, and I was a bit like ‘oh, typical, a hot guy to play the lead who’ll be absolutely rubbish but nobody will say anything because he’s hot’. How wrong was I?! I loved Colt as Johnny. He’s roughly the same age Patrick Swayze was when he played Johnny in the original, and he’s also super talented. Not to mention, he’s a massive fan of Patrick Swayze and has said he’s watched the original approximately 40 times. He played Johnny in a slightly different way than Swayze did; he wasn’t as willing to admit how he felt about Baby as much as OG Johnny was, and when Penny told him to end it he did, unlike Johnny in 1987. Also, he paid Baby’s dad back the money Baby had loaned, and let her dad talk to him like utter crap without being so passive aggressive about it (I’m talking about the scene where Johnny visits her dad in the original and he makes a snarky comment about how Johnny knocked up his dance partner and then moved on to another one). I also have to say, Patrick Swayze was to die for in the 80′s, but Colt Prattes truly is a beautiful man, and I’d happily look at him in that lake for hours. Plus, his voice is just wow. Nuff’ said.

Finally, Nicole Scherzinger as Penny. Although Cynthia Rhodes was an amazing dancer, and fantastic as Penny, I found her character quite mean and rude to Baby at the beginning. It’s only after she learns to dance with the help of Johnny and Penny to do the show at the Sheldrake does Penny actually warm to her. Nicole Scherzinger is a genuinely nice person in real life, and she brings that into her portrayal as Penny. When Johnny is mean to her, Penny is nice and all but reprimands Johnny for his behaviour towards Baby. Plus, she’s the one who suggests that Baby do the show in her place, and even though she tells Johnny to end his fling with Baby, she gives a rather good reason as to why. 

I have to give special mentions to Katey Segal as Vivian Pressman, Debra Messing as Marjorie Houseman and Sarah Hyland as Lisa. These three improved on the original characters massively. Katey Segal oozed sex as Vivian, and she was much more attractive than the original lady who played her (sorry!!). Debra as Marjorie was also amazing, and I loved that they expanded her storyline as the lonely housewife who felt abandoned by her husband. But the real star of the show has to be Sarah Hyland as Lisa. In the original she’s a sycophant who decided to lose her virginity to Robbie even after something happens on the golf course that she doesn’t agree with and he’s rude to her. Also, she has a go at Baby when she tries to warn her off Robbie, saying that Baby doesn’t care about her at all. Hyland’s version of Lisa is much better in my opinion. She starts off as being someone who just wants to get married, and makes no apologies for it. But she grows as a person in the film, not letting anyone take advantage of her and supporting her sister when she finds out what has been going on with Johnny.

The story:

I love that they don’t really change the plot, except for the end. It’s still the same story, a dancer from the wrong side of the tracks and a young innocent girl who fall in love through dance. But they extend on that, giving more screen time to B characters and highlighting certain issues. 

The two major side plots: Robbie and Lisa and Marjorie and Jake are two of the things I love most about this film. The fact that they actually show what happens to Lisa when she’s with Robbie, rather than brushing over it, is something I was really impressed with. It’s something that happens all the time, a guy tries to take advantage and when the girl says no and wants to report it, there’s always some reason why she won’t be believed. In this case Robbie tells Lisa she was basically asking for it by coming onto him and bringing wine. Like, so she showed an interest in you, and brought something to drink. That is never a good reason to sexually assault a person. Also, the fact that this Lisa doesn’t go back to him to try and lose her virginity is something I like. I never understood why in the original Lisa still wants something to do with him, rather than kicking him to kerb after he hurts her. Plus, her little attraction with Marco is so fricking cute, and the way it’s played out stays true to the era. She’s a white girl from a privileged background, while he’s black and has to work at a holiday resort and take shit for fancying ‘the little white girl’. He’s warned off by Tito, and the reason being that the colour of his skin isn’t white. It’s perfect, and truly is what would have happened in the 60′s.

The Marjorie/Jake plot is good too, and Debra Messing is truly splendid as the lonely housewife who asks her husband for a divorce. I love how they both sing the same song, but in different ways. Hers is in front of a huge band on a stage with an audience, and his is a little acoustic set alone in the dance studio. The greatest part of it is that Jake’s eyes are finally opened when Baby gives him her speech after he sings, and then he goes to eat and realises that nobody is coming to join him. The rawness of Bruce Greenwood’s performance when he’s in the boat with Marjorie is beautiful, as the tears well up in his eyes and he apologises to her, not trying to make excuses for his actions but instead admitting he was wrong. I also particularly love at the end when they do the final number, and he turns to her and sings the song the way Johnny sang to Baby. This truly cements how much he does love his wife, and her reaction is so amazing.

Another special mention to the way they handle the topic of Penny’s abortion. It really hits home just what it was like in the 60′s, when abortion was illegal. Penny has to deal with it all on her own, and accused of sleeping around because she ends up pregnant. It’s a heartbreaking thing in both the remake and the original where she feels the need to explain herself to Baby, and then  admits she’s scared. You can see it on Nicole Scherzinger’s face, that she has a bad feeling about what is going to happen, and as we all know she is right to be worried.

The singing:

Personally I love a good musical, and I feel in making some of the soundtrack be sung by the cast in the actual film, they stayed true to the original while having elements of the stage show. Plus, they picked people who can actually sing. Need I remind people of the woefully cast Les Mis where we had the evil singing voice of Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. Two men who are fantastic actors but can’t sing for shit. I do have to agree with other reviews though, some of the songs on the soundtrack have been ruined by autotune and ultra poppy backing tracks. My least favourite being ‘She’s Like The Wind’. That scene, where Johnny is leaving and he hugs Baby is completely ruined by that shite played over the top. In my honest opinion that is the one song that should not have been messed with. Wouldn’t it have been lovely to have Patrick Swayze honoured by playing his version as the new Baby and Johnny are saying goodbye, or is that just me? My favourite song though has to be the final song, just because of the different characters singing it and what it means. Jake singing to Marjorie, Johnny singing to Baby. It’s special, and I do love.

Special mention to the acoustic song Marco and Lisa sing. I love it. I do. Nothing more to be said on this.

Now for the bad points:

This isn’t a totally unbiased review, I’m not swayed by a gorgeous face that easily. Let’s start with the thing we all hate, that framing story. First, what’s why the green screen? Could they not have shot it in NYC? I do like that they have her going to the theatre to see the musical and then it plays the film, but I still don’t see the point. Why did she write a book? What happened to her and Johnny? Did she become a doctor? None of this is explained at all. If you’re going to have a framing story, give it a point. I’d much rather have had a ten minute epilogue explaining it all (and them being together) rather than that. I read another review that said the original always suggested that Johnny and Baby was just a summer thing, whereas the remake hints that it’s real, they’re in love and it’s not going to end. I truly agree with this, so why the hell do they have her married to someone else? Not to mention, and again this was said in another article, she’s married yet it’s plainly obvious she is still totally in love with Johnny. She doesn’t even seem that interested in her husband, and almost looks embarrassed that he’s there while she’s in the middle of talking to Johnny. Plus, they have Abbie Breslin playing an older Baby (she still looks the same) and then they have this guy who looks like her dad playing her husband. That was some seriously bad casting in my opinion. Plus, they totally ripped off the end of La La Land. I hate the framing story, it’s actually the only real letdown I have with the remake. I can forgive some of the shitty covers, but not having Baby and Johnny end up together is the biggest no no ever. 

If I had to write what had happened, I’d have kept it all the same right up until Johnny comes in. She’d have ran into his arms, saying how amazing the show was and how proud of him she is. Then the little girl would have ran in, and the babysitter would have apologised to both of them saying she’d gotten away from her. Johnny would have picked up the little girl and she’d have called him daddy, and they’d have walked off as a family together. Then they would have met up with some of the other characters, like Lisa and Penny who’d also come to watch the show. Why was it just Baby when Penny was practically his best friend? Like I said, complete rubbish.

Another bad point, I’m not too fond of the way they changed the final dance scene. I would have loved to see Johnny dance in this version the same way he danced in the original, with Penny and the other dirty dancers backing him up. Plus, as much as I love her, Abbie Breslin is stiff as a board. She gets some rhythm, and then she seems to lose it again. I do however think she nailed the lift, unlike what she was doing in the lake with Johnny. I like how they saved it right til the end, where nobody thought she’d do it, and then she did. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s so stiff, and nothing at all like Jennifer Grey in the finale. Like I’ve said though, I love the singing.

Finally, I totally agree with what people say about the dancing not being that dirty. In the original, where Baby helps Billy carry the watermelon, they walk into a room packed with people. Baby almost gets knocked over a few times, and quite a few people look at her funny. Plus, everyone is really sweaty. It’s nothing like that in the remake, and I know exactly the reason for this. ABC is a family company, and they took a film that was a classic, and reworked it into a family film. Sure, they still have the scene in Johnny’s cabin with Baby and Johnny, but it’s much tamer than the original. You see Baby’s bra strap, and that’s it. Plus there’s no clips of them actually in bed, it’s just implied that they have sex. Another thing is that they layer Abbie Breslin in so many clothes. In the original, when they’re in the lake, Jennifer Grey is wearing this ultra thin top and bra that you can practically see through when wet, and when they’re practicing dancing she is wearing a leotard with fish nets and a crop top. I don’t know if this is because Abbie Breslin is more curvy than Jennifer Grey or not, but it doesn’t really stay true to life. You wouldn’t practice dancing in a shirt, tank top and jeans. You’d literally be a panting sweaty mess by the end.

All in all, like I said earlier, I enjoyed the remake way more than I thought I would. Yes, I’d do away with the framing story, or change it completely, but if you just switch the film off at the end of the final dance sequence we can just pretend it doesn’t exist.