They should have called it Havana nights without the ‘dirty dancing’ bit, because if you compare it with the classic, beloved first movie, this one disappears. It’s not totally terrible, but it not much more than ‘watchable’. For sure it is forgettable.
First thing first, I didn’t like the leading actress for this specific role, and even less her character. I should see actress Romola Garai in something else to form a clear opinion on her, but I did not like her character Katey Miller at all. Not even a bit unfortunately. I disliked her from the very first words of the movie: “November 1958, my senior year of high school. While other girls were dancing to Elvis or dreaming about prom dates, I was reading Jane Austen and dreaming about college” … yes, she’s the only girl in the world with a brain :-/ ooooh she likes to read!! :-/
Anyway, in a week suddenly her family moves to Cuba because of her father’s new job. She meets the rich son of her father’s boss: James Phelps (Jonathan Jackson) who takes an interest in her. She also meets a bunch of snob girls, because of course Katie is also the only girl with a heart, and when one of them mistreats a waiter (Javier=Diego Luna), she takes it upon herself to apologize. Later she sees him on the street, dancing. He walks her home and they stop to listen to people singing rebel songs, for which they are stopped by the police and she runs home telling nothing about it to her family.
James invites her to a Country Club ball, but instead she takes him to the Cuban club La Rosa Negra, where she leaves him to dance with Javier; James drinks, there’s not much else he can do, and when he should drive her home he tries to kiss her; she pulls back and he tries to kiss her again and so she runs away, as well she should if she can’t manage the situation. That’s good. But, she runs back to Javier, fortunately stopping him from running after James to beat him, and then he walks her home, but her sister and some girls see them and report it. Javier is fired. She feels bad about it - but she also likes him - so she has an idea: she tells him that if they dance together they can win a dance contest and the money prize. She keeps lying to everyone (the good girl) and has James cover for her, or she’ll say what he did… :-/
Eventually Katie forgives her sister for getting Javier fired (she wasn’t alone after all, the mean girl saw her with him too), and tells her everything.
There are of course a lot of dance training scenes, while Katie and Javier practice their ‘routine’, and the day of the ball arrives. The Phelps invited her parents too, and yet she tells nothing, they see her on the stage.
Her father (John Slattery) is worried, but her mother is even more (Sela Ward) and they fight. She doesn’t approve of Javier, but “the dancing was incredible” (welllll, more or less…..)
At the final, when it’s their turn to dance, the police come in the room, someone shouts “he’s got a gun”, there’s a big commotion, everybody runs, and Javier goes to save his older brother who was being a revolutionary. Shortly after, that same night, they learn that Bautista left Cuba, and everybody parties.
Katie’s happy, she sleeps with Javier, but then her family has to leave, like all Americans, so they say goodbye.
Katie’s last monologue: “Javier once said that dancing was about being exactly who you wanted to be in that moment. Dancing with him I realized I was becoming exactly the woman I wanted to be. We didn’t win the contest but we did win something more important to us. On my last night in Havana, we were king and queen of La Rosa Negra” and I think this should have been the end, but of course she went on to say “we didn’t know when we would see each other again but we knew that this wasn’t our last dance” … :-/
There are a couple of scenes with Patrick Swayze, and I wonder if they put that in the trailer at the time… it’s a little part, and I was glad to see him, but it was a very plain role; they set this movie at an earlier date compared to the first film, so he was just a dance teacher, not necessarily Johnny, and of course there could be no mention of Frances… :-/
ITA-dirty dancing 2
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