Romantic movies have predictable plots: woman falls in love with man (or vice-versa, with variations to adapt to the 21st century), they meet obstacles, there's betrayal, etc. But movies like Dirty Dancing manage to fray out of the pack with some interesting social commentary
"Baby" Houseman is a young idealistic college girl going to an exclusive private club somewhere in NY State (judging by the accents). The activities there are kind of dull... until she sees dance teacher Johnny Castle burn the dance floor. She then becomes obsessed with him, trying to meet him despite coming from different worlds.
For a rom-com, the movie is actually interesting. Yes, seeing Patrick Swayze shirtless is an interesting sight, but the movie offers so much more.
The movie is set in 1963, and it does reflect the era. The club is (almost?) exclusively white and most young people go/plan to go to ivy league schools. It definitely swells their egos and makes them believe they are above others. That's why one of the waiters forces himself (we only see the end result) on one of the dancer; her abortion (again, we don't see anything) almost kills her.
Castle reluctantly knows his place and, like his dancing partner, is almost seen like a commodity - even like a gigolo at time (again, unseen). That's why he sees Baby as just another customer, but he does soften up to her.
Baby sees these injustices and tries to correct them, using her parents' words against them. Jennifer Gray, despite being over 25 at the time, is credible as a naïve young college girl.
In short, Dirty Dancing is definitely worth a watch if you like rom-com. Its social commentaries are subtle (but sometimes predictable; it's Hollywood after all), the romance slowly builds up and there is no vulgarity. The woke crowd could probably hate it, but it is still enjoyable if you keep the historical context in mind
Final rating: 3.7/5