One Last Dance

Mayna Bergmann -- Video Business, 7/15/2005

Color, NR (sexual situations, mature themes), 100 min., DVD $27.98, VHS rental

Street: Aug. 30, Prebook: Aug. 9

DVD: director and cast commentary, deleted scenes

First Run: L Int'l., 2004

Cast: Lisa Niemi (Younger and Younger), Patrick Swayze (Donnie Darko), George De La Pena (Mighty Aphrodite), Matthew Walker (A Guy Thing)

Director: Lisa Niemi

SCREEN MEDIA/UNIVERSAL

Dancers Travis (Swayze), Chrissa (Niemi) and Max (De La Pena), who left their dance company and its tyrannical instructor (Walker) seven years ago, reunite after their instructor's death to save the company, but personal issues they thought they had left behind resurface. Husband-and-wife team Swayze and Niemi have appeared on screen together before, in the 1987 apocalyptic film Steel Dawn. This time around, Niemi's labor of love (she also wrote and directed) plays to their strengths as real-life trained dancers. As with any dance film, there is plenty of melodrama, cheesy dialog ("Where there is ego, I go") and dance sequences galore. One rehearsal number in which smoke starts to fill the studio (because it's so hot in there?) might make some viewers groan in disbelief, but the dancers look undeniably good. Swayze continues to ride on his deserved dancing reputation from Dirty Dancing, and although he has aged noticeably, he is still pretty feisty and in good shape. Like so many movies about dance (The Turning Point, Center Stage), the plot takes a backseat. In One Last Dance, it's not necessary to understand how the production that only these three dancers can perform will save the company, or why everyone looks like they're on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Just turn up the sound and enjoy the hoofin'.