Cult Flops - Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

Lionsgate/Miramax, 2004
Starring Romola Garai, Diego Luna, Sela Ward, and John Slattery
Directed by Guy Ferland
Music by various

Dirty Dancing was such a hit, there was talk of a sequel or prequel almost as soon as it came out. There was a TV show that revolved around Baby and Johnny's adventures in October 1988, but it didn't make three months. After that, there was lots of talk, but nothing came of it...until the success of Moulin Rouge suddenly made dance musicals viable again. Most of the musical movies released in its wake weren't nearly as successful with critics or audiences, including this one. Why did the story of a teenager who falls for a local during the Cuban Revolution of 1959 fail to resonate with audiences? Let's start with Katey Miller (Garai) and her family as they're arriving in Havana, Cuba to find out...

The Story: Katey is initially upset with the move, as she was in the middle of her senior year of high school and wanted to attend the prestigious Radcliffe College after high school. Her parents and sister may be happy in the expensive hotel where they're staying, but Katey finds the rich American teens who live there to be more stuck-up than friendly. After they insult a local waiter she accidentally ran into, she follows him into the kitchen. The young man's name is Javier (Luna), and he's not too crazy about her at first. She finally wins him over when joins Javier to see revolutionaries playing music in the street. She even convinces her date James (Jonathan Jackson), the son of her father's boss, to come to a Cuban club and check out the much sexier dancing there.

Javier is fired for walking her home after James attacks her outside of the club. Katey hopes to make it up to him by entering them in a dance contest on Christmas Eve. If they win, they'll go on to the finals and earn 5,000 for his family. Katey only has a week to learn how to be an award-winning dancer...and then she has to explain her new passion to her family, and Javier has to explain it to his ardently anti-American brother Carlos (Rene Lavan).

The Song and Dance: Once again, "dance" is the operative word. Even when the movie itself falters, some of the dance numbers soar, especially the two big ones at the contests towards the end. I also give them credit for at least trying for something a little different. I don't know of many musicals set during the Cuban Revolution. Look for Patrick Swayze making a couple of brief appearances as a sympathetic dance teacher who helps Katey with her big routine for the contest.

Favorite Number: Those old revolutionaries really have something going there with their number "Timbason" that brings Katey and Javier together under more auspicious circumstances. Katey and Javier have a great time learning to dance from Johnny and each other in the lively montage to "Do You Wanna Dance." Their two big numbers - at the Christmas Eve contest and the aborted New Year's Eve finals - are well-done, showing all the passion and excitement that the script lacks.

What I Don't Like: The melodrama doesn't work any better than it did in the first film. Almost no one here is actually Cuban, including the location - they filmed in Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. Like the original film, this was also intended to have been a much darker story about a teenager who falls in love with a Cuban revolutionary. Decent dance numbers aside, that probably would have been a lot more interesting than the bland, derivative drama we got here. Katey's parents accept their daughter's interest in the brother of a revolutionary rather quickly, considering the initial fuss they made, too.

The Big Finale: In the end, both movies are too melodramatic to be huge favorites of mine. This one is recommended only for dance nuts or major fans of the first film.

Home Media: Only on DVD and streaming in the US, though they can usually be found for under 10 dollars.

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