Dirty Dancing: The Remake

It was announced last week that Kenny Ortega is slated to direct a remake of Dirty Dancing. And people lost their shit. And in some ways, I can understand the contempt. Really, Hollywood? You can't think of any new movie to make? You have to remake another effing movie? Seriously? However, I don't actually think it is that big of a deal. And I may, in fact, be kind of excited about it.

Dirty Dancing, for those who have avoided it, was released in 1987 and starred Patrick Swayze as bad boy Johnny, a dance instructor at a resort in upstate New York, and Jennifer Grey as Baby, who is visiting the resort with her family. There is lots of drama, things happen, Baby learns to dance, she and Johnny compete in a salsa competition, and they solve a crime! It has the iconic lift that everyone has seen. And it has "I've had the time of my life".

I enjoy Dirty Dancing. If it is on tv, I'll stop to watch a bit. And I own it on dvd. But I'm not sure it is quite the untouchable movie that it is made out to be. Now, I will fully admit that I do not have the emotional attachment to it that many people do as I was a solid 6 months old when it came out. It was one of those movies that I enjoyed that came out in the 80s. But it wasn't a quintessential movie to me.

I like that Kenny Ortega is attached to the remake since he choreographed the original Dirty Dancing. I would assume that he is fond of the original and therefore will make the remake as good as it can be. And also, the kids these days love his stuff! He directed High School Musical. That shit was huge! Tweens who loved HSM are now in there late teens, the perfect age to find a movie that is super important to them! Also, Kenny Ortega is a good director. He did Newsies, Hocus Pocus, and 17 episodes of one of my favorite shows, Gilmore Girls. He also directed This Is It. It definitely knows what he's doing as far as movies and musicals go.

So, you can be outraged by the tragedy of a movie being remade 24 years after it originally came out. But I am going to celebrate that there will be a new movie about dancing coming out soon. Much like I am (overly) excited about the remake of Footloose coming out in October!