Back to trending
Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing

Drama · Music · Romance · 1987

Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.

Movie details

Dirty Dancing

“First dance. First love. The time of your life.”

1987 Drama · Music · Romance 1h 40m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.3 / 10

Community rating

Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Dirty Dancing?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Footloose

Footloose

Drama · 1984

When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he's in for a real case of culture shock after discovering he's living in a place where music and dancing are illegal.

Charlie St. Cloud

Charlie St. Cloud

Drama · 2010

Accomplished sailor Charlie St. Cloud has the adoration of his mother Claire and his little brother Sam, as well as a college scholarship that will lead him far from his sleepy Pacific Northwest hometown. But his bright future is cut short when tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it. After high school classmate Tess returns home unexpectedly, Charlie grows torn between honoring a promise he made four years earlier and moving forward with newfound love. As he finds the courage to let go of the past for good, Charlie discovers the soul most worth saving is his own.

Endless Love

Endless Love

Drama · 2014

A privileged girl and a charismatic boy's instant desire sparks a love affair made only more reckless by parents trying to keep them apart.

The Sleeping Dictionary

The Sleeping Dictionary

Drama · 2003

In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.

Step Up

Step Up

Music · 2006

Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.

Home from the Hill

Home from the Hill

Drama · 1960

The wealthiest man in a Texas town decides to teach his teenage son how to hunt to make a man out of him.

Ladies in Lavender

Ladies in Lavender

Drama · 2004

Andrea, a gifted young Polish violinist from Krakow, is bound for America when he is swept overboard by a storm. When the Widdington sisters discover the handsome stranger on the beach below their house, they nurse him back to health. However, the presence of the musically talented young man disrupts the peaceful lives of Ursula and Janet and the community in which they live.

Center Stage: Turn It Up

Center Stage: Turn It Up

Drama · 2008

All self-taught dancer Kate Parker has ever wanted to do was perform with the American Academy of Ballet. But when she doesnt make it after auditioning, she learns that it takes more than precision and perfection to succeed in the dance world.

The Choice

The Choice

Drama · 2016

Travis and Gabby first meet as neighbors in a small coastal town and wind up in a relationship that is tested by life's most defining events.

That Night

That Night

Drama · 1992

A coming-of-age story about an eleven-year-old girl who idolizes her troubled sixteen-year-old neighbor.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Emile Ardolino

Written by

Eleanor Bergstein

Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Grey

Baby Houseman

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

Johnny Castle

Jerry Orbach

Jerry Orbach

Jake Houseman

Cynthia Rhodes

Cynthia Rhodes

Penny Johnson

Jack Weston

Jack Weston

Max Kellerman

Jane Brucker

Jane Brucker

Lisa Houseman

Kelly Bishop

Kelly Bishop

Marjorie Houseman

Court is in session

Put Dirty Dancing on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.