- Studio: Lions Gate Films
- Release Date: Feb 27, 2004
- Critic Score
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A pelvis-gyrating, ponytail-releasing, shirt-unbuttoning good time.
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70Sufficiently original and engaging to be called merely "Havana Nights" but will no doubt get a boost by the reference to the popular 1987 "Dirty Dancing."
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60This sweet, sometimes clunky chick flick is a likable teen romance, but not likely to arouse the giddy swoons Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey generated back in 87.
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60Superficial but entertaining new pic offers equal parts freshness and kitsch appeal set to a pulsating Latin soundtrack.
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58Even as the prosaic script gets lost in the intoxicating fantasy of the bloodless revolution, the hot heartbeat of the music drives the film with pure energy.
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Luna and Garai struggle to look like they're having the time of their life. But the movie, more wan than wicked, proves you can't go home again.
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50[Garai and Luna] must be given credit for their presence and charisma in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, and together with the film's general ambiance, they do a lot to make amends for the lockstep plot.
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50Swayze's presence crosses the line from curious to bizarre and adds a heavy layer of cheese to Havana Nights.
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50Bland though it is, "Havana Nights" could be the start of a globe-bettering franchise -- and across history, too: "Dirty Dancing: Monticello Mornings"; "Dirty Dancing: Gaza Strip Afternoons."
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50It's only possible to have the time of your life once, and, for this franchise, that was in 1987.
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50The plot of "Nights" will occupy only 10 or 12 brain cells.
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50Katey and Javier's dramatically expedient relationship is nowhere near as interesting as the Cuban Revolution, which is relegated to window dressing.
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50Not a sequel, not a prequel, but a "reimagining" as the producers say. And they're basically correct, although I wouldn't put any real emphasis on the "imagination" aspect of that term.
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50There are two sparks of light amid the trifling dialogue and bad faux-'80s love-on-the-beach montages in Havana Nights, and they are the film's costars.
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50The plot construction here is especially lazy. The whole movie is built toward the dance competition.
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50Contains all the elements of a satisfying teen genre picture, but they've been compromised out of existence.
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50Has its modest charms.
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50The movie's mix of erotic Latin dance and vaguely liberal politics should have young girls swooning in the aisles.
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42At its best during the anachronistic nightclub scenes and anytime prolonged dancing is on screen. It's mostly music video stuff, but the young actors are likable enough, and the film works up just enough momentum to give it some significance.
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40It's disappointing the film is so sketchy and underdeveloped. The filmmakers may have sold their story short.
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40The dance sequences might have saved it, were it not for the fact that director Guy Ferland seems to have learned everything he knows about (over) shooting and (blindly) cutting such scenes from watching "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago."
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38In the end, they are only moments, and even at a merciful 86 minutes, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights feels formidably long.
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38About three-quarters of the way through, Havana Nights suddenly becomes laugh-out-loud awful, with dreadful, lame lines delivered painfully badly - as if a different screenwriter and director had taken over for the movie's final act.
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38If you can't find a more scintillating brand of dirty to enjoy during your own nights (Helena or Hoboken), you're not trying very hard.
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Despite being set in 1958 Cuba, Havana Nights sticks to the formula. This would be perfectly acceptable if the dancing was "dirtier" and if there was a spark between the young couple.
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30This cinematic train wreck reminds me of when Hollywood decided to cash in on the success of Chinatown by making a sequel...
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Silly, misguided, formulaic and largely a piece of trash, but it's not quite a disaster. There's the dancing and the music and the sunlight.
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30It's one of the rare films for which a blooper reel would be redundant.
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The movie is still a routine Hollywood high school morality play.
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25This belated "reimagining" is as beguiling as a dried-out palm tree.
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25Has some good music and hot dancing -- filmed choppily -- but it completely lacks the magic of its predecessor.
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Havana Nights es mucho frío -- the only titter of excitement comes in a cameo from a strangely reptilian Patrick Swayze.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 43 out of 51
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Mixed: 0 out of 51
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Negative: 8 out of 51
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BeccaS10I love this movie!
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LucindaD10This was the best movie ever! I loved it! I really want to learn how to dance that way!
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JessicaT.10