Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

Like its predecessor, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004) received the sort of scathing reviews that critics usually reserve for Michael Bay films and Ben Affleck/J. Lo collaborations. Salon's Charles Taylor described it as "thin [and] overedited," while The New York Times's Elvis Mitchell took a harsher stance, stating, "This reimagining of the recklessly melodramatic 1987 original is packed with flashy, taffeta silliness and a desperation for a sweaty PG-13 sexiness so laughable that the cast deserves Oscar nominations for getting through the picture without cracking up. What these critics are most likely missing, and what I'm certain is key to appreciating the Dirty Dancing phenomenon, is that both films are clearly geared toward the pre-adolescent/early teen female demographic. In other words, if you weren't a girl between the ages of 10 and 15 when you saw either the original or its current incarnation, then chances are, you probably will never quite be able grasp what is so special about these movies.

In 1997, I was fortunate enough to attend a 10th anniversary screening of the Patrick Swayze/Jennifer Grey vehicle. As the glorious final scene came onto the screen, the theater – which was tightly packed with women in their late teens and early twenties – shouted out in unison, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!" Although Havana Nights includes no such triumphal moment, its colorful fashions, saucy dancing, and shamelessly cheesy and romantic rendering of pre-revolutionary Cuba as one enormous nightclub make it a guilty pleasure worth checking out.

With roughly the same amount of charm as Jennifer Grey in the original (which is to say passable, but by no means overwhelming), Romola Garai tackles the role of Katey Miller, an American teenager whose family is dragged to Cuba by her father (John Slattery), a former ballroom dancer turned Ford Motors executive. Bookish Katey finds it difficult to fit in among the other American ex-pats her age, for whom school runs a distant second to smoking and partying. Sitting by the pool one day, she accidentally spills drinks on Javier Suarez (Diego Luna) a Cuban hotel waiter who turns out to be just at odds with the world as Katey.

Saddled with the role of supporting his family (his elder brother is too caught up in revolutionary activities to be of much help), Javier works feverishly during the day so he can hit La Rosa Negra, a hot Cuban dance club, at night. Despite their vastly different backgrounds, Katey and Javier recognize a kindred sprit in each other, and ultimately decide to enter a Latin ballroom dance competition together.

As in the original, the couple in Havana Nights faces disapproving family members (in this case, Katey's mother, played by Sela Ward, and Javier's fiercely political brother, played with intensity by René Lavan) and a society on the brink of change (here the looming specter of JFK's assassination and the broader cultural changes of the U.S. in the 1960s is replaced by the brewing forces of a revolution led by Fidel Castro). Perhaps appropriately (although some critics took Havana Nights to task for it), politics enter the fray but are largely left on the back burner, leaving the dancing and romancing to take center stage.

Besides the terrific period setting and costumes, the film's biggest asset is Diego Luna, whose earnest turn in this film is far cry from the rambunctious, hormonal teen he played in Y tu mama también (2001). Still, Luna has charm to burn, and what's more, he can dance.

Yet the biggest treat of Havana Nights comes almost halfway through, when the seemingly ageless Patrick Swayze appears on the scene to make a cameo as dance class instructor. Whether or not this is meant to be a reprise of his Johnny Castle character is left unclear, but what is certain is that he is still able to generate some terrific chemistry with the otherwise placid Garai. Sadly, Swayze does not croon a version of "She's Like the Wind" in this version of the film, though gentle guitar strains of "I've Had the Time of My Life" can be heard in the background throughout.