Dirty Dancing (2017 ABC) - General Discussion

[JasmineFlower]

Sheesh! Just got through the scene at the cabin with Baby and Johnny. Man oh man was that some awkward crap when it's supposed to be this wonderful, sensual scene. The irony of "Don't you feel like crying?" is unimaginable here.

[methodwriter85]

So it looks like I was correct in my decision to watch "Nice Guys" and "Eddie The Eagle" on HBO instead.

I hope the two leads have very, very thick skin. Twitter is being BRUTAL. Even nastier than the Sound of Music Live tweets.

Edited May 25, 2017 by methodwriter85

[ebk57]

Okay - this is unforgivable...  a pastrami sandwich with mayo???  Never!!!

[tanyak]

What the HELL is this version of She's Like the Wind?!

[voiceover]

I practically grabbed my TV to throw it to the ground when I heard the Staple Singers ("I'll Take You There") on the soundtrack.  Are you kidding me??  That song didn't come out until a decade later than the movie time.

As fond as I am of Katey Sagal, I don't appreciate the padding of that role.  And for all I despise Debra Messing, she would've been perfectly fine as Mrs Houseman without the woke SL.  (One of the best moments in the original is the character's sharp, "Sit down, Jake!" -- it landed with a bang because it took all movie for her to get there) Hope Kelly Bishop isn't watching.

Edited May 25, 2017 by voiceover

[Laurie4H]

Another thing is there is too much dialogue.  For example in the original movie Mr. Houseman grabs the money back from Robbie and walks away....her he goes on about apologizing to Penny and paying her back.  The original worked so much better.

[voiceover]

WTF with Baby wanting to be a Dr like Daddy??  That line in the movie about her planned major (& post-college, into the Peace Corps) was so exactly the character, in only two lines.

What happened to Billy (Johnny's cousin)'s role?  Cut to give Katey a bigger part?

Why is it all over already with Robbie?

Whyyyyy am I still watching?

2 hours ago, ebk57 said:

Okay - this is unforgivable...  a pastrami sandwich with mayo???  Never!!!

You're right.  Now I'm really changing channels.

Edited May 25, 2017 by voiceover
Because I thought ebk57 was joking. She wasn't.

[StatMom]

She wasn't even in a corner. Sheesh, stick a column there or something so it looks like she's tucked away. Simple enough -- the original did it. Takes a little away from the iconic line, IMO.

[Katydid]

OMG this ending is even worse than I imagined it would be!  

[ebk57]

I've kinda been meh about the whole thing.  Until now.  This finale is awful  Really, really, really awful.  

On the plus side, Mr. ebk didn't hate it.  I guess that's a plus.

[ParadoxLost]

So I tuned in for the last half hour.

This is dreadful.  What did they do?  Decide that they hired actors that couldn't act or couldn't dance and decided to cover their mistakes by making them sing in a remake of a movie that wasn't a musical just to prove they couldn't sing either.

Edited May 25, 2017 by ParadoxLost

[WhosThatGirl]

Oh wow. That was.. not good. Also why the need for an epilogue to show us Baby and Johnny aren't together? I feel like that was just not something that was needed? Not that I was all "now baby and Johnny together for always" at the end of the original but it wasn't needed. At all.

[voiceover]

An hour in and still the thing that pisses me off the most is that one of the best songs of the seventies is on the fuckin' soundtrack.

Performances, casting, "updating" the script = okay.  A failure, but okay.  

But blowing something my mother could google??

*bangs head*

[Irlandesa]

I just accidentally turned into the last half hour.  They didn't dance in that finale. 

And what is this flash forward?  Isn't some of the greatness about the original the way they captured the wonder of the moment and the promise of the future regardless of the likelihood of it happening?  Was the one thing this 30 year old successful movie lacked and we all begged for was a realistic epilogue?  And if it did, couldn't we at least learn she was a doctor instead of a mother? 

What's the takeaway--summer flings are a hallmark of youth but don't get too wrapped up in it, kids, IT NEVER LASTS!

Edited May 25, 2017 by Irlandesa

[WhosThatGirl]

Yeah.. I don't know why they felt the need to tack on a "what happened later.." , and also why is Baby the one who is married and Johnny doesn't get to be with someone as well? 

[DearEvette]

I had no plans to watch this but decided to watch the big scene at the end.  

The "nobody puts Baby in a corner" line felt awkwardly delivered.  And was she even in a corner?

 Abigail was so miscast.  And there was zero sexual chemistry.  Honestly, felt second hand embarrassment for them all.

[Fostersmom]

Well, that was all sorts of just bad. When did Abigail forget how to act? Her dancing is better left not talked about. Johnny couldn't act or really dance either. The music was a trainwreck too. This sucked so hard, so very hard. There's better talent in the crappy KMart commercial I just saw.

[methodwriter85]

8 minutes ago, Fostersmom said:

Well, that was all sorts of just bad. When did Abigail forget how to act? Her dancing is better left not talked about. Johnny couldn't act or really dance either. The music was a trainwreck too. This sucked so hard, so very hard. There's better talent in the crappy KMart commercial I just saw.

When she got boobs.

I hate to say that, but none of her post-puberty roles have been good. Her last good role was the kid sister in Adventureland.

[voiceover]

Not having the time of my life.*

 

*just thought of that but I'm sure it's all over Twitter

eta: It's also all over the reviews.  I won't delete it; I'll wear the shame of being (unintentionally, I swear) derivitave.

I agree with one of the reviewers who mourned the loss of the big confrontation between Baby & her dad.  In the film, I cried.  Here? She was shrill & he was a dick.

I hate the Mr & Mrs Houseman subplot more than any other change.

Here's something I like:  I do find Colt attractive. As Danny Zuko.

Edited May 25, 2017 by voiceover

[TiffanyNichelle]

Well that was fucking awful.

[paigow]

Johnny looks like the lovechild of: Ben Stiller + Richard Grieco + John Stamos .... not saying the dude is ugly, just that I was laughing even during his serious scenes...

[WhosThatGirl]

Seriously I want to know who green lit this? Also why was half of it trying to be a musical? They were sort of doing that in the beginning and then stopped in the middle and then resurrected that for the finale? I feel like halfway though production someone was like "let's make this a musical" and didn't let other people know that this was happening.

[ParadoxLost]

24 minutes ago, WhosThatGirl said:

Seriously I want to know who green lit this? Also why was half of it trying to be a musical? They were sort of doing that in the beginning and then stopped in the middle and then resurrected that for the finale? I feel like halfway though production someone was like "let's make this a musical" and didn't let other people know that this was happening.

I honestly think that Breslin was the only "name:" they could get to star in this thing (also explaining the casting of Johnny) and they didn't really consider that they wouldn't be able to train her enough to get her to carry off the dance numbers.  So they added singing last minute in an effort to cover for the simplification of the dance numbers.

Edited May 25, 2017 by ParadoxLost

[voiceover]

I'm guessing the next screening of the original Dirty Dancing will score top 10 ratings for cable, as women everywhere tune in, in their effort to sorbet-out this version.

[ParadoxLost]

6 minutes ago, voiceover said:

I'm guessing the next screening of the original Dirty Dancing will score top 10 ratings for cable, as women everywhere tune in, in their effort to sorbet-out this version.

You are talking like they haven't already youtube'd the scenes that they had the misfortune of watch to stop them from being committed to long term memory,

[JasmineFlower]

As bad as that was throughout, I wasn't prepared for how terrible that ending turned out to be. They ruined the ending, it wasn't a Baby and Johnny dance it was an everyone please join in to cover the fact that we cast a lead who can barely sway. And lets ooh and ahh and hopefully no one will notice she's barely moving and it's certainly nothing to be impressed by, and we'll toss it to her parents to sing along with the song because that's the couple that's together at the end. Cause wait, we're not done, we're going to the future to show you Baby and Johnny aren't together at all, she's married with a kid and she wishes him well and him the same. What the actual fuck were they thinking? Someone legit lost their everloving mind coming up with this crap.

Edited May 25, 2017 by JasmineFlower

[methodwriter85]

The funny thing is, the creator of Dirty Dancing said in the revival screening that Baby and Johnny do end up together. So yeah, fuck this remake.

[Amethyst]

Wow, this was bad, and I didn't even watch the whole thing.  Bad acting, shitty updates of the songs (that cover of "She's like the Wind" was terrible).  The leads have no chemistry, and there was too much extra stuff shoehorned in; the dueling parents, the bitter wives, that awful epilogue, etc.  And why did everyone start singing in the end?

And that epilogue was the final middle finger.  Whether or not Baby and Johnny actually do end up together, there was no need to spell everything out.  It's ok to have left that alone for the viewers to come up with their own conclusion.

[emjohnson03]

Twitter was amazing during this train wreck. I watched the original last week at work with co-workers and man, it was cheesy but it was so good. Patrick and Jennifer, man, oh man. And that final dance number.

The less said about this, the better. I wonder how ABC will look at this and I do feel for the actors, but did anyone really see this and say, oh man, so good. Too much talking, too much extra story and just not enough substance. Who knew 3 hours could feel like 3 years.

It was all around bad. Just bad. And lets not even talk about remaking the songs. I mean seriously? That's wrong on so many levels.

The silver lining will be that I hope people find the original and watch it. And honor Patrick for what a great role.

[WhosThatGirl]

25 minutes ago, JasmineFlower said:

As bad as that was throughout, I wasn't prepared for how terrible that ending turned out to be. They ruined the ending, it wasn't a Baby and Johnny dance it was an everyone please join in to cover the fact that we cast a lead who can barely sway. And lets ooh and ahh and hopefully no one will notice she's barely moving and it's certainly nothing to be impressed by, and we'll toss it to her parents to sing along with the song because that's the couple that's together at the end. Cause wait, we're not done, we're going to the future to show you Baby and Johnny aren't together at all, she's married with a kid and she wishes him well and him the same. What the actual fuck were they thinking? Someone legit lost their everloving mind coming up with this crap.

It did seem like we focused quite a lot on a ton of B plots. Including the parents. I get wanting to add more layers and things to their stories, but it was more story we didn't need.

Also they ruined the sister character because one of my small favorite moments from the original is when Lisa is deciding which song to sing and she says "I feel pretty" and she ends up singing a hula song. I don't know why but it always made me laugh. I get that they wanted to add texture and layers. But I don't know. Little things and lines and moments. Just.. there was no point for this.

[voiceover]

Television Execs:  Hey let's remake Rocky Horror Picture Show!  What could go wrong with a remake of a beloved classic??

ABC: Hold my beer.

Edited May 25, 2017 by voiceover

[Sarah 103]

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I was never wild about Patrick Swayze in general, but damn, did he have charisma coming out his ears in Dirty Dancing. This new guy is a veritable black hole of charisma, and while he does have a nice body, he ain't particularly attractive imo.

I didn't watch this remake, but I did want to comment. The thing with Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing is that the camera loves him. You are seeing him through a woman's eyes, which is rare for a film. You are seeing him from Baby's perspective, and the way she views him. In the original movie, there's a shot of Swayze lying down stretched out during "Love is Strange." Someone should have turned that shot into a poster. It would have sold well (who am I kidding, it will still sell pretty well). 

[Iseut]

I could only stomach about 20 minutes of this...just awful. The parts of the story they "updated" really killed the (very minimal) complexity of the original. Baby just wants to pay for dance lessons? Ok. So why does she need to learn the lift? In the original, at least there were some stakes there...Baby had to learn the exact routine with the lift so that Johnny and Penny could keep their jobs. That urgency was totally lost here.

Damn, the actor playing Johnny was a charisma suck. Abs alone do not make a leading man. Even when Swayze's Johnny was annoyed by Baby, you could see that he found her interesting and connected with her. This guy just stared at her blankly.

Debra Messing's Marge telling Jake "you haven't touched me in a year" skeeved me out. I'm all for a healthy sex life at every age, but nobody wants to hear parental figures talking about it in detail. Eeeeeww.

Edited May 25, 2017 by Iseut

[babyhouseman]

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was big fan of the original since my teens and went to the filming locations. 

I didn't expect it to be good, and it wasn't. I missed the first 15 minutes because of weather warnings. I really just think Mother Nature was trying to postpone the agony. When I saw Debra Messing and Katey Sagal talking, I just saw Grace Adler and Peg Bundy. The other plots were just filler for the three hours. Along with other songs, Hungry Eyes was bad, and the extra songs weren't needed. I suppose budget didn't allow them to use songs with the original artists. It's funny because the creator of the original talked about how tight their budget was, and how hard it was getting the songs. The Robbie actor was bland and didn't have the cocky bastard thing going. I know Breslin is not a dancer, but one of the joys of the original was seeing the great dance to Time of My Life, and there was hardly any dancing in that scene. The ending was a downer. The end of the first movie made you happy and joyful. This movie had none of that. 

[WendyCR72]

13 minutes ago, babyhouseman said:

The end of the first movie made you happy and joyful. This movie had none of that. 

Not exactly true! I was happy and joyful that this atrocity was over and done, hopefully to be forever wiped from the world's collective memory (see Twitter) as they run to Amazon to buy the original movie!

[Laurie4H]

Wasn't Dirty Dancing made into a broadway musical?  I thought maybe the singing and subplots where because they were remaking the musical version?  Kind of like the 2007 Hairspray was a movie version of the musical and not the original 1988 version?  (Not that that I'm comparing this disaster to the 07 version of Hairspray).  

[voiceover]

It was awful, that's nearly universally agreed, all the way through.  So why did so many of us stick around through that godawful coda?

Pure spec: The sheer paralyzing funk of, "Surely something good will happen...now!  No?  Maybe...now?"

[Quof]

Quote

Wasn't Dirty Dancing made into a broadway musical?  

It never made it to Broadway.  The previews/touring company were so sucktacular, Broadway plans were cancelled.  It was perhaps the worst live theatre I have ever seen.  

[buffynut]

I had no expectation that this would be as anywhere as good as the original, but I wasn't expecting the complete lack of chemistry between Johnny & Baby. Baby was ok in some of her scenes, but few of the ones with Johnny.  And I didn't find Johnny to be sexy or even attractive.

The random bursting into song was annoying. The parents' added storyline was unnecessary.  

But I did the like the kinder, smarter Lisa and her inter-racial friendship with the musician.

As for the epilogue, I would have preferred it show that like Baby's parents, a romance that began at Kellerman's continued after the summer ended.

[dogfish]

9 hours ago, Laurie4H said:

I'm just baffled with the casting of Abigail Breslin in this.  I mean Jennifer Grey was no beauty but she had dancer type body and a manturity that Abigail doesn't have.  She looks like a 15 year old who is still loosing  baby fat and needs braces.   And her acting isn't that convincing.  At least in my opinion. 

Jennifer Grey was cute...AB is not.  When she ran to do the jump (which they didn't show because she probably had to be lifted up), she looked soooooo awkward.

[dogfish]

ONLY redeeming moment for me was when Sarah Hyland and J. Quinton Johnson sang their duet.  Cute song...sounded nothing like a "1963" era song however.

[Marathonrunner]

Kudos (??) to Hollywood - the plain, chubby girl with the frumpy wardrobe gets the "hot" guy - other than that, the whole show was embarrassing

[ChlcGirl]

3 hours ago, Quof said:

It never made it to Broadway.  The previews/touring company were so sucktacular, Broadway plans were cancelled.  It was perhaps the worst live theatre I have ever seen.  

Worse than the Ghost musical?  The mind boggles (and cringes).

[Snow Apple]

What's with the epilogue? Did they tack that on so you'd be so "outraged" that you'd forget the previously three hours of suck?

Yeah that last dance was awful. Even I can do the two step. With the channel that gave us Dancing With the Stars, why did they hire someone who can't dance at all? Haven't there been plenty of actors who went through that show? 

Jennifer Gray's dancing wasn't professional level but she was good; exactly like a girl taking lessons all summer with Johnny and Penny. And the professionals didn't have to hold back with Jennifer like they did with Abigail. 

[Snow Apple]

I'd rather watch Dirty Dancing; Havana Nights than this again.

[absnow54]

I wonder if this movie could have been improved if they'd done a modern day adaptation instead of trying to do a shot for shot remake. As others have pointed out, Dirty Dancing can be found on television almost any day of the week, and the plot is timeless enough to fit into any era. I'm not saying it would have saved this mess, but I feel like they crammed themselves into this creative corner trying to re-capture magic in a bottle.

[Laurie4H]

Jennifer and Patrick were not "conventionally" attractive people but they had charisma, sex appeal, and chemistry.  I notice the chemistry between actors are not the same as they were back in the day.  It's like casting just throws anyone together to get a movie made.

[topanga]

39 minutes ago, Marathonrunner said:

Kudos (??) to Hollywood - the plain, chubby girl with the frumpy wardrobe gets the "hot" guy - other than that, the whole show was embarrassing

Yes. I will say I'm glad ABC didn't feel the need the cast someone whose body type is exactly like Jennifer Gray's. But dressing AB in similar clothing as JG did nothing to flatter Abigail's body.

[Shannon L.]

9 hours ago, voiceover said:

I'm guessing the next screening of the original Dirty Dancing will score top 10 ratings for cable, as women everywhere tune in, in their effort to sorbet-out this version.

After about 10 minutes, I turned it off and said to my daughter, who has not yet seen the original, "Wanna watch the real thing sometime?"  to which she responded "Yes, please."  I'm thinking sometime this weekend. '

ETA:  I gave up during the watermelon sequence.  Not only was it bad, but I rolled my eyes so hard at the couple who was on the ground, her thrusting her hips within inches of his face, then the same two sliding along the floor.  There was bumping and grinding in the original, but that was a bit much for this particular movie, imo. 

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shannon L.

[tanyak]

47 minutes ago, topanga said:

Yes. I will say I'm glad ABC didn't feel the need the cast someone whose body type is exactly like Jennifer Gray's. But dressing AB in similar clothing as JG did nothing to flatter Abigail's body.

That might have been the one thing I didn't mind. It was nice to see the lead not by a size 2. But pick a size 6 or 8 who can actually dance and has some charisma. And they totally made her look frumpier than she needed to be.

There's so much to say, but I'll just point out my biggest three annoyances:

1. Whatever they did to "She's Like the Wind," as a noted above.

2. The "Hey Loverboy" scene, which in the original was playful, fun and sexy. I'm not sure what happened last night.

3. And the finale, which several posters have rightfully skewered. My favorite part in the original is toward the end when they are dancing slowly and Patrick Swayze quietly sings a couple of lines to her. My second fave part is when he jumps off the stage and dances solo down the the aisle, and when he turns and comes back up the aisle with the other dancers behind him. I watched it on YouTube five minutes after this travesty ended to cleanse my brain.

It was a good hate watch. lol