Oh no, they’re putting baby in the corner? Whether our cha-cha shoes like it or not, a Dirty Dancing remake is apparently in the works.
Look, no one loves the tale of forbidden love in the Catskills more than I do, but this idea does not sound like the time of my life. I don’t know whether to laugh or grimace; neither do Baby and Johnny. Hot on the dancing heels of the planned Footloose remake comes this other recycling of 1980s movie nostalgia. I know there are no new ideas, but this is getting ridiculous. The original 1987 film became a sleeper hit that made stars out of its previously unknown stars, Patrick Swayze (who played rebel dance instructor Johnny Castle) and Jennifer Grey (who played sheltered debutante Frances “Baby” Houseman). While there are very few details about the remake, it is being developed from a script by Julia Dahl, whose previous credits include the 2003 Brittany Murphy comedy Uptown Girls and last year’s Lifetime movie Flirting With Forty.
This does not bode well, people. Johnny and Baby deserve more than a movie-of-the-week treatment. I mean, she carried a watermelon for God’s sake, give her some respect.
Now, of course, this isn’t the first attempt to recapture the Dirty Dancing magic. In 2004 they tried to go caliente on the concept with the ill-fated sequel Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, starring Diego Luna. A popular stage version is still two-stepping its way across the United States and Europe, too. But the only way I would even submit myself to watching any kind of remake is if they took the movie in a bold new direction. Like a Baby and Penny find love on the dance floor direction. Now that would be a dance worth repeating. So, what do you think of this news? Appalled? Intrigued? Just don’t tell me you’re too young to remember the original, because then I’m going to have to put you in the corner.
