User Reviews

This film is a sequel to "Dirty Dancing", hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the original. It utilizes much of the original plot and has numerous references to the action, but viewers need to decide if this is a loving nod to the original DD or an unnecessary redo (or both).

'Havana Nights" is set in Cuba during 1958, just before the overthrow of the Batista government by Castro and others. Therefore, this story precedes the 1963 story of the original DD. And it means that Patrick Swayze is not reprising his role as Johnny Castle. Here, he is an older dance instructor.

Filmed in Puerto Rico, the film's depiction of Cuban life and culture is quite enjoyable and one of its highlights. Life (especially nightlife) in pre- Castro Cuba is a colorful and exciting mélange of sensual dancing and energetic music.

But there are other problems that plague this film, most notably the male lead. Diego Luna plays Javier Suarez, a local waiter/busboy at the country club frequented by well-to-do Americans, like the parents of Katey Miller (Romola Garai). As in the original film, class differences separate the two sides of a love match, and emphasize the differences between the dance styles of the elite and the styles of the streets. Luna is a fine actor and his performance as a kid who experiences the financial hardships of an impoverished populace and the realities of political oppression feels authentic. However, he lacks the physical presence of someone like Swayze. Likewise, the chemistry between Luna and Garai lacks the heat that transformed Baby into a believable love interest for Johnny Castle.

The supporting cast boasts the beautiful Sela Ward (as Katey's mother), John Slattery (as the father) and an under-used January Jones.

In this film and the original (and many others in this genre, like "Flashdance" or "Footloose"), the music and dance are the agents of liberation. The "square" young woman is confronted by the liberating power of street culture-which has less concern with conventions and the status quo-in the person of an outsider who teaches her to think and feel beyond the safe structure of her "conservative" existence. Many of those other films have portrayed these themes better, and with more chemistry between the principals.

Can a gifted young actress ever be too good for the part? Yes, if you're talking about this pleasantly bland DIRTY DANCING sequel. HAVANA NIGHTS tries to transplant the "Dirty Dancing" story line to Cuba in the fifties. It's a good idea in itself. But the movie doesn't work because Romola Garai is not just good enough -- she's too good. She's too natural, too glamorous, too self-confident, and too alluring to be believable in the typical "dirty dancing" scenario.

In the original DIRTY DANCING, all of the story's power came from the fact that Jennifer Grey's character was a classic ugly duckling -- not a golden beauty with natural grace. It was thrilling, heartbreaking, poignant and funny to watch "Baby" discover her own sensuality and attractiveness, because you could see how shy and awkward she felt.

None of that dynamic works in HAVANA NIGHTS. The story lacks power precisely because Romola Garai is a screen "natural" in a way that Jennifer Grey never was. You never worry about her future. She seems to be so utterly right the moment she steps onto the dance floor. Far from being intimidated by her Cuban partner, she seems to be more at home on the dance floor than he is. Her golden, regal beauty and bewitching sensuality are so completely radiant and luminous in every scene, you never wonder if she'll get the guy. Instead you wonder why she wants a mere boy instead of a grown man of greater animal power and allure! Romola Garai is destined to be a huge star -- in this movie she soars to greatness.

But that doesn't make HAVANA NIGHTS a great movie.

I absolutely LOVED this movie. Deigo Luna was so hot! This was not as good as the first, but considering it wasn't really a sequel but more like a completely different movie I thought it was awesome. The acting was good, the dancing awesome, and the soundtrack even better. I loved the dance they did at the Palace and I would recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. Both the lead actors are new and I hope that we will be seeing a lot more of each of them. This is a sweet story of an interacial relationship in Cuba where the white girl from America falls in love with the sexy Cuban pool boy! They are so awesome together and it was a wonderful movie. With the sexy dancing and the sexy music and the typical(but good) storyline this is the perfect movie to watch anytime!

10/10

Well, I watched this movie with a dancing buddy and I must admit that we just wanted to be entertained for two hours, not emotionally moved or scared to death. That said all of the latin dance scenes were very fun to watch. Patrick Swayze even has a cameo. Unfortunately though, not half as much thought was put into the plot or keeping costumes and music in the correct time era. The plot is basically that Castro's revolution will be successful soon and from that you can guess just about all the turns in the movie. The dialogue was also shallow as something George Lucas would write for his love scenes. That all said, Havanna Nights is a fun visual spectacle, nothing more, nothing less. I would recommend it for a care free night. My rating is a 6/10 because even though it has poor dialogue and a painful plot it still accomplished enough dirty latin dancing to make me smile and want to dance.

All good parents tell their children "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all." (Of course, most good parents also warn you about running all over a foreign country at all hours of the night, but I digress!) So....

(INSERT EXTRA LONG PAUSE FILLED WITH TONGUE BITING SILENCE!!)

So, I promise that I won't go on about the injustice done to a modern day classic by slapping it's title on an overly cliched and not well acted (or overly well danced) sloppy second and I won't recount how creepy Patrick Swazye is looking (when exactly did he see her dancing, is the creepy old guy stalking her!?!). Instead, I will say that John Slattery and Sela Ward tried their best with what they were given and the female costumes were stunning (although how she went from a prudish, sweater wearing introvert who had to borrow a "sexy" outfit from the maid to having a zillion low cut, less than demure dresses I'll never know!)

So, now that I've done my best to say a little "something nice" and a whole lot of "anything at all"s, let me finish knowing that although I'll do my best not to take a piece of this movie with me, I think that, unfortunately, a little piece of it will always stay, well not in my heart, but definitely with me!!

It's 1958, high school senior Katey Miller (Romola Garai) follows her family (John Slattery, Sela Ward, Mika Boorem) to pre-revolutionary Cuba. They're staying in a fancy exclusive hotel. She bumps into local waiter Javier Suarez (Diego Luna) and eventually befriends him.

There are great actors at work here. I love the location shoot in Puerto Rico. The story is strictly fantasy cheese. It doesn't have the fun and charm of the original namesake. It's better than expected but not anything great. The one thing that does stand out is that Romola Garai is quite a big tall gal. Diego Luna is barely taller than her, and he's definitely skinnier. It's a different feel to the franchise.

My biggest gripe with this movie is that the Latin dancing is not very genuine. My father was living in Havana in the early 1960s, and reports what seems pretty obvious: this film is full of a modern, highly stylized and "hip-hoppified" version of Cuban street dancing.

But, there is a lot of other stuff to gripe about in this film.

Plot: our heroine is an American gringa whose family moves to pre-revolutionary Cuba because her dad's company promoted him to a position there. We don't know anything about our heroine (let's call her "La Gringa Caliente," because she eventually learns to loosen up and let strange men touch her butt), except that she gets good grades. So, she moves to Havana and becomes mesmerized by afro-Cubano dancing. This leads her to fall madly in love with a waiter in her hotel, and enter a dance tournament with him. Her family is scandalized. Then they are not scandalized any more.

The plot is totally predictable, and the acting is downright bad. The love story lacks guts. None of that matters if what you want is to see cool Latin dancing and listen to cool Latin music, which was my goal. But, even that goal is sadly disappointed here. There is some cool music, but most of the music is just hip-hop with a Latin beat. A lot of the dancing is just 2000's club freak-dancing... it looks more like Lambada than Samba.

The three features that pushed me from silent disappointment to derisive laughter were:

(1) They make a big deal about "Old Havana," and show all of these landscape shots to impress the viewer. But the city they are showing is San Juan, Puerto Rico! This might not be so obvious, but they show the most famous landmarks in San Juan, so that you cannot possibly even pretend the setting is Havana. So much for the "Havana Nights."

(2) For some God-awful reason, they throw Patrick Swayze back in! First of all, his character has no role, no background, and no reason to be there. He plays the gringo dance teacher who somehow teaches La Gringa Caliente how to loosen up and let guys touch her butt (he has a great line: "It can be very scary when someone touches that part of your body." who wrote this?). They dance around ballroom style. Second, the guy has had a really bad face-lift or something. He was only 52 when this film came out, but he looks 65. I was worried that his hairpiece was going to come flying off during some of the spins.

(3) The pathetically weak attempt to illustrate the social pressures that led to the Cuban revolution left in me stitches.

Conclusion: stink bomb. If you want a movie with cool Cuban music, rent Buena Vista Social Club. If you want to watch cool Latin dancing, rent the 1980s Robby Rosa film "Salsa!" If you have a desperate need to get rid of four dollars and be bored for 90 minutes, rent "Dirty Dancing Havana Nights."

I wasn't sure what to expect when I watched this movie. I was sure quite how it would fit with the Dirty Dancing title, but once I turned it on I was enraptured. I couldn't turn away and when it was over and watched it a second time.

I was uncertain at first what I would think because I'd heard it was a Sequel, I'd heard it was a Prequel and I'd heard it was a remake. But when I came out of watching it, I felt it was a movie in it's own right. If anything it was a Parallel. It present the same kind of feelings and emotions as the original Dirty Dancing. Other than that it was it's own movie.

Romola was fabulous and Diego was just so easy to watch. They had great chemistry that made the whole thing believable and realistic. I could watch them dance all day. And the music made me want to dance myself if I knew how.

Over all, I was a little surprised. "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" wasn't that bad. I did like the first Dirty Dancing, so I figured that I would give this a shot. So, my friends and I saw this last night and I was very impressed with the dance moves. But there are more than a few flaws.

1.) Romola Garai, although she is a great dancer, she was not convincing as an actress. It felt like she kept trying to get her lines right.

2.) There were too many things taken from the first Dirty Dancing. I thought they could have been a little more original.

3.) It was a little clique with the parents. One minute they are against Katie seeing Javier, then the next they love him. I don't want to spoil though.

4.) And putting Jonathan Jackson as a little bit of a jerk was kind of dumb. I liked how in the first Dirty Dancing, the original guy that liked Baby was just a dork. But Jonathan being a jerk? Couldn't see him in that way.

Just a couple things they could've fixed up. But I wouldn't mind seeing the film again if I was in the mood.

6/10

PS, you're going to freak out when you see Patrick and how he looks.*shudder*

An'A' for Awful that is! Awful acting, Awful dancing and just for being an Awful movie. This movie doesn't even touch the original. It seemed as if things were just thrown in this movie just for the sake of it with no real fluidity. I was never expecting much. However since I have a love for salsa (which this movie almost nearly destroyed) and have been dancing it for a number of years, I thought I would give it a try.

It is such a shame given the talent of many of the cast. I felt I wasted 86 minutes of my life, and think I should forewarn anyone over the age of 10 with above average taste in movies not to watch this drivel.

Katey moves to Havana with her family in 1958. Her family expect her to date a rich buy, but then she meets the Cuban waiter Javier, he introduces her to the sensual Cuban dance'n'music. When he loses his job, indirectly because of Katey, she asks her to enter and win a dancing competition with her, so that he can take his family to America. They meet secretly and dance right in each others hearts! When the revolution breaks out, the young couple tries to prove that their love is worth fighting for. I would have liked them to just call it Havana Nights, instead, because many people have high expectations about it because of the title. If you liked the first Dirty Dancing you will love this. It is a beautiful movie about how dancing brings to young people together and mix the afro-Cuban rhythms with ballroom dance and it looks fantastic! I LOVE this movie, and the music is absolutely amazing! It makes you want to dance and I feel alive when I see the movie. If you want to have a big musical experience filed with love and drama, then enjoy every minute of this film! I hope you will let yourself flowed away to the Cuban music!

I loved this film. I did put it off for a while, thinking it would be just another sequel that we don't need, but when I watched it, I realised its a completely different film all together. A young girl and her family move to Cuba just before the revolution, like the original, Katey Miller (Romola Garai) is expected to marry someone her parents approve of, which is were James Phelps (Jonathan Jackson) comes in, the snobby rich guy, only after one thing. Meanwhile Katey meets Javier Suarez (Diego Luna) a waiter, who begins to show her the time her life by dancing with her secretly for a dance contest. I was surprised to see Patrick Swayze in the film, who played Johnny Castle in the first movie, he appeared in a scene trying to encourage Katey to take part in the dance contest. The original was set in 1963, and this movie was set in 1958, so i'm guessing this movie was meant to be before the 1st one actually happened. Patrick Swayze can still dance the night away, and he'll always be a great actor, but the star of this movie was Romola Garai and Diego Luna, a great actress and actor. The script was predictable, a rich girl and a poor boy falling in love, but that didn't put me off. Unfortunately this movie will never beat the original, to me its a classic.

The music, the clothes, the dancing everything was sexy and stylish, a great chick flick for the girls.

firstly, i wanna announce that i'm a Chinese girl. i never go aboard,just stay in our country, so maybe there are some mistakes or something too difficult to understand. hope you guys can understand. by the way, if you can give me some advice to me, i'll appreciate that very much. thank you! Its name and the first music of the movie took me into a Cuba world. It's so hot. It makes people want to swing their hips. Especially, my hips swung on the seat.

The boy looks like a little shy, when he didn't dance. But as dancing, he is another person, so attractive, so cute, and so hot! As same as the girl, before she loved the Latin dancing, she was a "lambkin lady". However, I think, the passion under her peaceful appearance is so ardent and was oppressed. In fact she also don't know why she want to study hard and go to the college. These seem her dreams, but lack of some passion and exciting. The Latin dancing gives her an exit to her passion.

With the exciting rhythms and the dizzy Havana Nights, I felt I was in there. I want to have a totally free dance! I love such dance! In fact, I have learned samba for a while. That feeling I can understand, so soft, so free, so passionate! The love story didn't have a perfect result, but the dancing still goes well. The dancing is the spirit of this movie! I love this movie!

Romola Garai......ain't she something sweet. Diego Luna, before "the terminal" i'd never heard about this guy, but i must say, i like the vibe he puts out there.

and the movie..... i ranked it 7 for the following reasons. the to main actors, xcelent work. the Latin/ Cuban music was great. i even think i'n gonna get the soundtrack. the story of someone on vacation, meeting one of the natives and having the time of there lives, that's a dream of a lot of people & the other people had some kind on similar experience.

But....the reason i didn't go any higher was the ending of the story. they couldn't be together any longer, they didn't win the competition. the small part Patrick swayze played didn't bother me that much, but if there gonna put swayze in the sequel of the movie, i at least expected Jennifer Grey to be his dancing partner. or at least see them still being together during the dance competition.

Final conclusion: i enjoyed watching it & my date like it. these kind of honey sweet movies somehow brings out all the romance in ladies. That's why i say "keep on making these kind of chick flicks" :)

OK, this is not a good movie....but it's not ALL bad. Patrick Swayze looked decrepit in this movie, totally irrelevant to the plot (some sort of editing issues). This is the only movie I have ever seen in theaters that people (basically most of the audience) were laughing during the dramatic parts. I have to say I liked some of the aesthetics but overall the schmaltzy acting and flimsy plot really killed it. The music was not even trying to be 50's era in many places and most of the characters were hardly developed at all but seemed to be just thrown in. I realize that this isn't exactly supposed to be groundbreaking cinema, but given the popularity of the first movie I would have expected better.

ok... this movie is good... i like the dancing even though the girl was still not a great dancer (she was still stiff) but uou become distracted with her dress that flows sooo cool... the whole story was not that great... and because of that, it felt like the movie was lagging on and on... kinda got annoying. and at one point, they kiss (during the competition) and i was just like "what the? they act like they did it before since they didn't seem to mind what they have just done"... i was lost and confused with their "love story" after that... i liked seeing them practice though because it was pretty much a comic relief.

i know i'm being pretty much negative about this movie... the only good part that i found was only the dancing scene, the practicing and the girl trying to dance in front of the mirror until the guy comes in -- that was hilarious!!!!

I'll be brief. I waisted too much time watching this, so I won't waist even more writing a long review. I gave a star because I liked the Cuba song, but that's it. For the rest, such a bad bad bad... EVERYTHING: casting, choreography, acting, directing...etc etc... I wonder what Patrick Swayze had to do with this pathetic imitation of a wonderful memory. They could have picked up another actor, same category with the rest just to fit with their script and leave Patrick S. alone. It was very very disappointing. I could watch "Dirty Dancing", the original one, endlessly ... but this Havana thing... I made a big effort to resist watching it till the end... If you want to see a good movie, pick up the first Dirty Dancing. Simply like that.

I loved this movie! It was really good. Yes it was a chick flick and a teen movie, but it was SO good and romantic! Javier (Luna) was SO hot and good. The way his body moved was amazing! The only reason I rated this movie a 9 was because I didn't like the way it ended. I thought it could have been done a little differently. But I still went out and bought the DVD!! This may sound a little crazy, but almost every night I watch it! If I could learn to dance the way they do...I would pay to learn how to dance so Cuban! It was a really good, adorable, romantic, and dramatic Movie. It had everything and more that I like to see in a movie. Many people say that they didn't like it but, I thought it was awesome.

Ok, there is no doubt, the movie has cheesy lines and some very bad acting. Especially the main girl! But it wasn't totally her fault, she was given some pretty bad lines. However, the cute story line and the great dancing and fantastic music made it a really fun movie to watch. No, it won't win any awards, but it is definately one of those guilty-pleasure movies. Do not see this movie if you are expecting to see any great dancing from Patrick Swazey. He held a tiny part and was way too old!!! I'm trying to write a little more because it says I have to write 10 lines, but I don't think I can critique the movie that much! It was just cute and fun and innocent and made you want to stand up and start dancing. Give it a try!

We were excited to see this long overdue sequel to the original Dirty Dancing. When we were done, we could not believe how badly it was made. I know it is cheaper to make films out of the United States now as this one was done in Australia. Problem is it looks like it was done by some blokes who didn't care about even trying to make a good movie.

Patrick Swayzee has a very small cameo role which was used to try & sell tickets to this turkey. Once people who saw the original looked at this one, they fled from the theaters. In case there ever is a chance, we should send this movie to someone we don't like.

That's what I'd do with it. It just gets worse by the minute. Makes the original look like a classic film. Watch the first one, skip this movie.

This movie is now without a doubt on my top 10 list now! The mix of drama, romance, history, and dance is perfect! The acting, dancing, and music in the movie was great! You want to just stand up and dance (even if you have no idea how to) Havana nights really takes you into the lives of these two people and makes you really care about them. It has an ending that is very true to real life. That things don't always go as they should. It had a Romeo and Juliet vibe without being cheesy what so ever. Diego and Romola give a heart warming performance that makes you always want to come back for more. I recommend this movie to anyone that has ever wanted to follow their dreams, but was too afraid to try.

I found this movie to be a great night out for a fun time to watch some great dancing hear some energetic music, and remember why we ALL should learn how to dance. While the plot is extremely predictable and some of the dialogue corny I overall found this film quite fun. My favorite character was definitely Xavier Suarez, who somehow gave some sense of real passion to the film.

The little cameo from Mr. Swayze is a little out of place, in addition to the background instrumental of "I've Had the..." in some of the more sentimental spots. This film would have more credibility being its own thing rather than trying to ride on the coattails of the 80s classic. But hey, you have to sell tickets somehow.

"Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights" is a film that tried to capitalize on a much better film, "Dirty Dancing" that came out in the eighties. This remake suffers from a lack of vision and political incorrectness, so typical with people that have no clue about other cultures, as witnessed by the finished product. It's almost incomprehensible that more than 500 contributors to IMDb have given this film a rating of 10, or excellent, when it feels fake from the beginning.

This film is supposed to take place in Havana during the days before the fall of the Batista regime in 1959. The director, Guy Ferlnad, and his writers, present us a Havana in which dancing takes place in almost any corner as we are taken to watch an impromptu rumba dancing by happy "natives" in a busy downtown street. The character of Javier, the proud pool waiter working for the wealthy Americans in either their club, or hotel, shows a rebel streak toward his boss, and a friendly attitude toward the gorgeous Katey Miller, who accepts him as a friend. This situation could only work in the minds of the movie people because in real life, Katey couldn't have cared less for the young man, let alone be associated with him for any kind of social dancing.

In fact, there is such sharp contrast between the girl of privilege and a working class poor boy that it would have taken a miracle for bringing them together. Talk about the magic of the movies! This is stretching things a bit too much. Films about Cuba, in general, always show the fateful 1958 New Year's Eve that changed that land forever. We see it again done here as it's the climax of the "dirty dancing" competition where Katey and Javier are finalists.

As for the dancing, the people involved in the film have created a hybrid in trying to present what one sees in the movie for "real" dancing, when this type of sensual dancing didn't come into being until the nineties.

Diego Luna is a good actor and does what he can with his Javier. Romola Garai is a beautiful young woman to look at, but as far as the dancing, she suffers from a lack of rhythm, so innate in a Cuban, or a Latina and since she is not a dancer, she doesn't keep pace with Javier at all. Sela Ward has some good moments as Katey's mother, and Patrick Swayze shows up as a dancing instructor.

Mr. Ferland, the director, should have done some research in Miami, or another area where Cubans still dance in their own fashion and it would have made up for a better dancing in a film that feels fake from beginning to end.