I'm not going to say this is the best movie ever made, but I won't deny I've seen it dozens of times, and that it's one of my all-time favorites. Part of the reason that it's become one of those movies people love to hate is that, of course, it's a sequel to a genuinely really good film, a serious movie that's not really about dancing at all, Saturday Night Fever. If you can set aside the comparison and the anger that Stallone may have "ruined" the attempt at a good sequel (please--as if SNF even had a possibility for a serious sequel!), then you can enjoy this movie on its own level, as a fun piece of sexploitation with a dance twist not at all different from that other big 80's dance movie, Flashdance.
As such, it's fantastic. Tony Manero has made it across the bridge and now he has his sights set on a starring Broadway role. It's hard, of course, and although he's a fine dancer, he must struggle through two jobs (dance instructor and hot waiter) while trying to break into showbiz. He shares the struggle with the single most underrated 80's icon, Cynthia Rhodes (also in Flashdance and Dirty Dancing). He likes her well enough but likes Finola Hughes (Blossom, How Do I Look?) much better, echoing the struggle between okay and just great loves he had in SNF. His one-night-stand with Laura (Hughes) gets him a part in a musical called Satan's Alley (a Dante-meets-Fosse extravaganza). When the surreptitiously gay male lead turns out to be "too mechanical" to get the sparks going with sultry Laura, Tony replaces him successfully (he has "anger" and "intensity"). Tension is created by the most ordinary love triangle, and just before the final act on opening night Laura tries to deflate an exuberant Tony after he rejects her invitation to get together after the show by telling him he doesn't "have it." To prove he does, Tony spins her into a smoke cloud and performs an impromptu solo that proves to all that he indeed has "it" and then some. The movie ends with the simplest of all conclusions: yep, Tony made it!
Sounds awful? It is! On the one hand, you can almost see the idea behind this plot, some genuine (if horribly executed) effort at continuing SNF's storyline: was Tony serious about leaving all the Brooklyn b-llsh-t behind him after he realizes the emptiness of his life that horrible night? Could he really learn to respect women, even to be a friend to one? Did he have what it takes to make it outside his small pond? On the other, apparently no one was able to provide satisfying answers to these questions. The love triangle doesn't move beyond the original; it mocks it. The Tony Manero character doesn't seem to grow at all. If anything, it's even less introspective.
But trying to evaluate a plot in a movie like this is like trying to find profundity in an episode of Charlie's Angels. What makes this movie good is exactly what makes it bad, too. Travolta was never in better shape in his life, and he dances well. This can be either gross or riveting. I don't know if Hughes did her own dancing (seems so), but she's supple and sexy, if not as absolutely liquid as Rhodes, who is mesmerizing. Some dance sequences are great; some just awful (the strobe sequence is laugh-out-loud ridiculous). Some music is great ("Someone Belonging to Someone" by the Bee Gees); some pap ("Never Gonna Give You Up"). The fact that the plot and the dialogue are skimpy is actually a blessing. Do you really want to hear these people talking? No. The music does the talking, when it's good.
Here's what I propose: I propose that, if this had been a stand-alone film, if the plot were just background and SNF had never been made, this movie would be as beloved as Flashdance or Footloose or Dirty Dancing or any of those. Some people don't like these either, but that's okay because nobody likes them.
As such, it's fantastic. Tony Manero has made it across the bridge and now he has his sights set on a starring Broadway role. It's hard, of course, and although he's a fine dancer, he must struggle through two jobs (dance instructor and hot waiter) while trying to break into showbiz. He shares the struggle with the single most underrated 80's icon, Cynthia Rhodes (also in Flashdance and Dirty Dancing). He likes her well enough but likes Finola Hughes (Blossom, How Do I Look?) much better, echoing the struggle between okay and just great loves he had in SNF. His one-night-stand with Laura (Hughes) gets him a part in a musical called Satan's Alley (a Dante-meets-Fosse extravaganza). When the surreptitiously gay male lead turns out to be "too mechanical" to get the sparks going with sultry Laura, Tony replaces him successfully (he has "anger" and "intensity"). Tension is created by the most ordinary love triangle, and just before the final act on opening night Laura tries to deflate an exuberant Tony after he rejects her invitation to get together after the show by telling him he doesn't "have it." To prove he does, Tony spins her into a smoke cloud and performs an impromptu solo that proves to all that he indeed has "it" and then some. The movie ends with the simplest of all conclusions: yep, Tony made it!
Sounds awful? It is! On the one hand, you can almost see the idea behind this plot, some genuine (if horribly executed) effort at continuing SNF's storyline: was Tony serious about leaving all the Brooklyn b-llsh-t behind him after he realizes the emptiness of his life that horrible night? Could he really learn to respect women, even to be a friend to one? Did he have what it takes to make it outside his small pond? On the other, apparently no one was able to provide satisfying answers to these questions. The love triangle doesn't move beyond the original; it mocks it. The Tony Manero character doesn't seem to grow at all. If anything, it's even less introspective.
But trying to evaluate a plot in a movie like this is like trying to find profundity in an episode of Charlie's Angels. What makes this movie good is exactly what makes it bad, too. Travolta was never in better shape in his life, and he dances well. This can be either gross or riveting. I don't know if Hughes did her own dancing (seems so), but she's supple and sexy, if not as absolutely liquid as Rhodes, who is mesmerizing. Some dance sequences are great; some just awful (the strobe sequence is laugh-out-loud ridiculous). Some music is great ("Someone Belonging to Someone" by the Bee Gees); some pap ("Never Gonna Give You Up"). The fact that the plot and the dialogue are skimpy is actually a blessing. Do you really want to hear these people talking? No. The music does the talking, when it's good.
Here's what I propose: I propose that, if this had been a stand-alone film, if the plot were just background and SNF had never been made, this movie would be as beloved as Flashdance or Footloose or Dirty Dancing or any of those. Some people don't like these either, but that's okay because nobody likes them.