I miss soundtrack movies. Movies that aren’t musicals that reach another level of success due to a good soundtrack. It seems like the 80s were lousy with them but they all but dried up by the 90s. The last one I can remember was The Bodyguard. It was a major box office hit that no one talks about anymore outside of the soundtrack which is one of the best-selling albums of all time and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Flashdance didn’t reach those heights, but it’s a similar story. It was a sleeper hit that became a pop culture behemoth thanks to an amazing soundtrack.
While the soundtrack is a big reason Flashdance became a hit, it does have some other things to offer. It’s a star-making Jennifer Beals performance. It’s crazy how few opportunities this film led to for her at the time. These days, she’d either be in 5 Sundance movies the next two years or be scooped up by a major franchise. In the early 80s, there wasn’t that indie film infrastructure and the studios didn’t know how to capitalize on the emerging youth market. Flashdance was looked at as an MTV hit, which ghettoized Beals. Prestige filmmakers weren’t looking there for new talents. I’m sure there are some other nefarious mechanisms that got in the way of a half-black actress like Beals succeeding too. She’s so damn good in this though. And the music video approach to many of the dance sequences in the movie really works for me.
It’s otherwise a rough movie. I wasn’t that into Beals’ romance with her boss, especially when I realize he really was almost twice her age (20 years old/38 years old). The other employees at the club bored me too. I don’t know what to do with the fact that the aspiring stand-up comedian tells a couple lazy Pollack jokes then decides he’s good enough to go to L.A.
Flashdance is a thin but enjoyable movie with some very high highs.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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