Let it be me

This has got to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It just came on German television (never made it to the cinemas), and was one of those movies that you watch totally flabergasted, wondering what the makers were thinking when they first realised how bad the movie they were working on is and why they didn't stop there and then. One also has to wonder why the movie has no plot. Brief outline:

Boring guy passes a dance place, decides to learn to dance. Learns to dance there, becomes really good, meets charismatic dance teacher and fat guy. Gets on everybody's nerves because he's dancing all the time. Takes his fiance to the dance place where she meets her ex-dance partner from high school, who just happens to be the boyfriend/husband of the boring guy's dance instructor. In between all of this, Patrick Steward, who is also a dance instructor, falls in live with an older student and they get married at the end. As do the boring guy an his fiance but only after several "steamy" scences b/t the boring guy and his dance teacher and his fiance and the husband of the dance instructor. What really disappointed me was that there was no big state-wide dance competion that the boring guy and his wife win in the end. Can't have everything, I guess.

Only groteque fascination allowed me to watch all of this movie. Oh: the German titel is: "Flirty Dancing"!

Why is there such a sharp division of opinion on this charming movie? I suspect because it is a "difficult" romantic comedy. In almost all romantic comedies, it's clear from the credits which couples will end up with each other. The male and female leads are destined to be paired, as are the secondary male and female stars, and the pleasure lies in seeing the couples correctly sorted out after a lot of confusion. In "Let It Be Me," the only absolutely perfect pairing is that of third leads Patrick Stewart and Leslie Caron. It's a very close question whether the engaged couple, Campbell Scott and Jennifer Beals, and the dance studio partners, James Goodwin and Yancey Butler, are really destined for each other or whether they should change partners and dance. "Some people just belong together," Beals says, but which people is a harder question to answer here than in most comedies, though it is satisfactorily answered by the ending.

If you like dancing, you'll like this film in general but you might find it a little boring in places. Patrick Stewart is charming and he has a really good chemistry with Leslie Caron. It's really nice to see Jennifer Beals again, she's a fine actress and one of the great beauties of Hollywood, though she doesn't flaunt it like so many others. I saw on the credits that Elliott Gould (a great dancer) was in this film, but for the life of me, I could not find him in this movie.

Dance movies usually keep my interest and Let It Be Me did just that. However, the two main couples had very little chemistry and as I watched it I would have been like with a better cast. Jamie Goodwin was wooden and mechanical. Aside from looking great from the hairline down, he was barely adequate. Jennifer Beals is a very good actress and tried hard to create something with dance instructor Jamie Goodwin, her former high school love. She and her fiancé played by Campbell Scott were a more credible couple. Yancy Butler was very smooth, but she looked bruised and unhappy during her non-dancing scenes. The third couple played by Leslie Caron and Patrick Stewart were lovely, charming and pleasantly predictable. They grounded the movie with their mature romance and skillful dancing. Their wedding at the end of the film was the most satisfying scene. The other dance sequences were good, but not great.

If you loved "Dirty Dancing" you'll enjoy this movie; both were written by Eleanor Bergstein.

Heartwarming story about three couples at a dance studio. Perfectly cast. Jamie Goodwin and Yancy Butler make a stunning dance team. Patrick Stewart with an American accent (!) and the ever graceful Leslie Caron. Jennifer Beals, in a surprisingly conservative role, and the dashing Campbell Scott, as the confused groom-to-be.

The bar scenes between Gabriel and Jordan, are hilarious.

The score is lively, the dance sequences beautiful. It's an uplifting movie! Made me want to go out and take lessons, myself.