Why Girls Love This Movie

About every six months I get the urge to watch this movie. Sure, it's on cable almost every weekend but c'mon, the edited version just doesn't cut it.

Whenever I talk about Dirty Dancing to my guy friends they roll their eyes and moan. They just don't get it. I guess I can't blame them since one of the movie's greatest assets is Patrick Swayze, but it's more than that. Because let's face it, a good body can only carry a movie so far.

Patrick Swayze plays Johnny Castle (what a name), a down-on-his-luck guy who found dancing as a way to get off the streets. Johnny works at a summer resort giving dance lessons. His boss treats him like dirt and older women use him to get back at their husbands, but he keeps the job because he needs the money. He runs into trouble though, when his dance partner and friend gets pregnant and can't dance in the season finale. In walks Baby (Jennifer Grey). Baby has just graduated high school and is vacationing with her family before running off to join the peace corps. She's noticed Johnny around and becomes slightly infatuated with him after running into him at an after-hours party (where the real "dirty dancers" come out.) Baby finds out that Johnny's partner can't dance, so she volunteers to learn. Johnny must teach her a series of intricate dances within a period of about two weeks. During these private dance lessons, its inevitable that things get a little steamy.

Unlike many 80s teeny-bopper movies, Dirty Dancing actually has a somewhat involved plot. Some of the issues in the movie are more serious, such as when Johnny's dance partner gets an illegal abortion from a corrupt doctor just so she can keep her job. The movie shows the struggle that underprivileged people must often deal with just to survive. And it shows the struggle that a privileged person must face when her heart tells her to do something that will displease those closest to her.

But seriousness aside, this movie is just fun to watch. The soundtrack is amazing. Songs like "Time of our Life" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" stay in your head for a long time after the movie has ended. And for anyone who really gets off on happy endings, the ending to this movie will just leave you smiling.

So overall, the greatest thing about Dirty Dancing is that a completely average girl ends up winning over the hottest guy in the resort. Sure Baby is cute, but she's by no means beautiful. She's completely awkward around Johnny the first time she meets him. Girls love this movie because we can relate. Every girl can relate to Baby's massive crush on a guy who is completely unattainable. We sit around and think about the guy all day and when we finally get the chance to talk to him, we make an idiot of ourselves. ("I carried a watermelon?") But in this movie, the awkward girl gets the guy. A victory for awkward girls everywhere.

And to top it all off, the dream guy loves to dance AND he's not gay. You know that's hard to find in the real world.