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The Whitest Movie You'll Ever See


Love N' Dancing / Dustin Rowles

Film Reviews | May 12, 2009 | Comments (62)


There’s a movie out this week starring Amy Smart and Billy Zane. It’s called Love ‘N Dancing. It only opened in 30 theaters around the nation, so the odds that it’s playing in your town are slim. In fact, all 30 theaters are in one of four cities: Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. If you don’t live in those cities, you need not bother reading this “review.”

If you do live in one of those cities, however, I’d like to ask a favor of you. Check your local listings and determine exactly which theater Love ‘N Dancing is playing in. Then please make your way to that theater, as soon as possible, and burn it to the ground. If there are people in that theater, try to urge them to leave. Failing that, feel free to burn the movie theater down anyway. Certainly, the casualties may be high, and yes, the costs in damages will likely be in the millions, and you and I both will likely face a stiff prison sentence.

It’s worth it.

In fact, I’m convinced that behind the relentless earnestness of Love ‘N Dancing, there are hidden Satanic messages. To wit: If you carefully rearrange the letters in the title of the movie, you can spell “DANG CONN EVIL,” which is of course code for: Murder all white people. I’m feeling a little bloodthirsty myself, and I think the only way to quench it is to decapitate a few Caucasian Urkels. Love ‘N Dancing may very well be the Whitest Movie ever made, and I’m not talking about pasty New England white or even Canadian white. I’m talking: Utah white. You know: White. If we ever do a Seriously Random List ranking the Five Whitest Movies of All Time (suggestions will be taken below), Love ‘N Dancing may very well top the list.

The story: Jake, (Tom Malloy), a hearing-impaired swing-dancing pro loses his wife and dance partner when his hearing starts to go. He can still hear a little with his hearing aid is turned on, but he doesn’t like to keep it on during performances. He likes to feel the music, which means that — in a way — he’s dancing alone and will never be a true dance partner. Enter Jessica Donovan (Amy Smart), who begins taking swing-dancing lessons with a now washed-up Jake to prepare for her wedding reception with fiance, Kent (Billy Zane). Zane is an abomination — if you think he’s a bad actor in Uwe Boll adventures, then try him about as the bumbling, work-obsessed fiance, a role perfected by Greg Kinnear in much, much better movies. Zane is the comic-relief, y’all, both intentionally and unintentionally.

Naturally, Jessica — because her fiance prefers to talk on the phone — eventually falls for Jake during the dance lessons, and they pair up for his huge comeback at the U.S. Swing-Dance Open. You can probably guess what happens and the long-term consequences are the continuation of the uber-Caucasion species.

Terrible movie. Bad acting. Formulaic plotting. Heinous choreography. Straight-to-DVD level directing from Robert Iscove (The Ten Commandments: The Musical, From Justin to Kelly).It is not, to my knowledge, one of those fundie flicks, but it sure feels like one, minus the proselytizing. And after Amy Smart’s turns in Crank and Crank High Voltage, I’m surprised they even let her make the movie.

Dance, people. Dance.



Pajiba Love 05/12/09 | Powder Blue Review



Comments

"Murder all white people..."


FINALLY!

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 12, 2009 2:04 PM

My immediate reaction?

"No thanks."

... but that's mainly because the player asked me if I wanted it to "PLAY AGAIN?"

Posted by: soto at May 12, 2009 2:12 PM

Stop it. It is not called that. No movie is called that. It can't be.

Posted by: Jay at May 12, 2009 2:20 PM

Until this moment, when I decided to look up his acting history on IMDB, I had firmly believed that Billy Zane was the bad guy in the first two Mummy movies.

Posted by: Lindsay at May 12, 2009 2:30 PM

5. The Ice Storm

4. Mr. North

3. Holiday Inn

2. Every movie starring Kirk Cameron

1. This thing.


This is an off the cuff list, I'm sure someone else can do better.

Posted by: Mrcreosote at May 12, 2009 2:31 PM

I am white. Do I have to see this?

Posted by: Skitz at May 12, 2009 2:33 PM

Zane was da bomb in Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight, yo.'

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 12, 2009 2:36 PM

I feel so bad for Amy Smart. She's so ridiculously cute, and should be having the same type of career that Elizabeth Banks has now. Who didn't love her in "Road Trip" or "Just Friends"?

And the whitest movie ever? "The Notebook." I don't think it's even close.

Posted by: Abe Froman at May 12, 2009 2:38 PM

WRONG WRONG WRONG!

The whitest movie ever is any movie starring Will Smith.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 12, 2009 2:41 PM

what trailer uses like 9 songs, all of which are inappropriate for a corn-bread-ass movie like that?

Posted by: "luker" the barbarian at May 12, 2009 2:43 PM

Can I just state my unmitigated hatred for the use of the "N'" in anything, ever? As a substitute for "And" as a kicky variation on things that end in "en" (example: Chick'n strips are served in my own personal version of hell). I tend to protest any and all examples of this grammatical abomination by not spending money on those things which use it.

Seriously, it doesn't even work when you say it. Try it, it's like your tongue slid on some ice on the way to pronouncing a real word. HATE!

Posted by: Genny (also Rusty) at May 12, 2009 2:45 PM

Slim is right. Will Smith movies are really white.

Posted by: Melody at May 12, 2009 2:46 PM

Geez. Settle down, Ge'N'y. They're just hav'n some fu'n. Don't get all mad n' aggravated.

Posted by: I Love Beets at May 12, 2009 2:49 PM

Powder
The Da Vinci Code
Dragonheart (it just is, you know?)

And speaking of Dragonheart, can anyone name other movies where the main theme was so cheesily great that they co-opted it for other movies and trailers? And the Academy Awards?

Posted by: Snath at May 12, 2009 2:55 PM

Sounds terrible. And the whitest movies ever:

5. Juno

4. Knocked Up

3. Clerks 1 & 2

2. Every Single Documentary Ever

1. Birth of a Nation

Posted by: George at May 12, 2009 2:57 PM

In alphebetical order:
1. Contact
2. Dan in Real Life
3. Ferris Beullers Day Off
4. Grease
5. Mothman Prophecies

Posted by: superasente at May 12, 2009 3:02 PM

Isn't this just Ice Castles, but dumber?

Posted by: Landon at May 12, 2009 3:08 PM

Every time that trailer used a dramatic percussion hit, I laughed so hard a little couscous snarfed up into my nose.

My nostrils and sinuses are now packed with couscous. Fuck you very much, trailer.

Posted by: Shinykate at May 12, 2009 3:12 PM

I guess it depends on exactly how we're defining "whitest movie." Earnest, hokie nonsense that only honkies would swallow (Pretty Woman)? Or bullshit cracker fairy tales where everybody looks like an expensively-dressed hobo and talks like an English Lit grad student (Juno)?

In no particular order:

Footloose
Pretty Woman
Juno
Gone with the Wind
Whatever that shitty "documentary" about love starring Michael Cera and his fat, sloppy girlfriend was called.
Titanic

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at May 12, 2009 3:13 PM

Are they serious? This is the official trailer? Its rare that a movie is so awful I can't even watch a full 2:30 trailer for it. Yikes.

And aren't lead actors generally supposed to be halfway good-looking?

Posted by: swimgrrl13 at May 12, 2009 3:30 PM

Does that guy have actual dentures, or just really big veneers?

Posted by: AM at May 12, 2009 3:31 PM

I am this movie's target demo. I will watch it on DVD while drinking pinot grigio and weep tears of joy when Amy Smart's character gets her crap together. I'm a sucker for terrible dance movies. From "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" to "Centerstage," it's like the damn things write themselves out of finding-herself tropes and dollar-store dialogue, throw in a few leads who can't dance, some clumsy cutting to cover the doubles and... PRESTO: MODERATELY PROFITABLE MOVIE.

That said, didn't they just make this movie with Diane Lane, film it in Houston, and throw in some Latin music? I seem to remember it.

Posted by: Brook at May 12, 2009 3:31 PM

What happened to Billy Zane? I swear he used to be a decent actor. I don't think he was ever amazing, but he used to be allright.

Also, I probably weigh more than Michael Cera's "fat, sloppy girlfriend" ( I assume that you are talking about Charlyne Yi) so thanks for that

Posted by: Park at May 12, 2009 3:33 PM

Most romantic comedies are whiter than a Lutheran congregation in a blizzard, so I'd easily include The Notebook, A Walk to Remember and anything movie with Drew Barrymore.

To that, I would include Fireproof, Grease, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids (and all subsequent sequels).

Posted by: branded at May 12, 2009 3:35 PM

You know what, whatever. I shouldn't get all cranky about weight comments on the internet. I'm not 16 years old anymore.

Nevermind

Posted by: Park at May 12, 2009 3:35 PM

Gone with the Wind

C'mon, there's tons of black people in that. Some were even allowed to speak. Talk about diversity.

Posted by: socalledonlycousins at May 12, 2009 3:39 PM

Charlyne Yi seems interesting and cute, and I'm tickled that Michael Cera seems to have hooked up with someone based on having a genuine intellectual or artistic connection instead of tapping some empty shell of a Vanessa Hudgens automaton lookalike. I assume with his fame, money and dorky charm he could rail all manner of vapid Hollywood wannabes.

Of course, I've read that the relationship might be a sham for the documentary. Also, he probably nailed fifty of those wannabes after Superbad and then settled down with someone he actually liked.

Posted by: socalledonlycousins at May 12, 2009 3:45 PM

Yeah, Brook, except in Center Stage, it was all folks who couldn't act because they were actual dancers, instead of actors who can't dance (well, except for one or two. and Zoe Saldana, but wasn't she a dancer originally?).

Not that I own that movie on dvd or anything....

Posted by: lizzieborden at May 12, 2009 3:52 PM

Whitest movie ever made? The Wiz.

Posted by: BWeaves at May 12, 2009 3:54 PM

What do you want me to say? The girl is fat. That doesn't make her a bad person. Shit, it doesn't even necessarily make her unattractive -- Sara Ramierez could afford to lay off the donuts (mmmm, donuts) and I like to believe that, should I live a virtuous life, I'll be reincarnated as her panties. Still, calling her fat was probably a dick move on my part. I should have simply called her a shambling heap of neuroses and dirty clothes and left her weight alone.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at May 12, 2009 3:56 PM

"Charlyne Yi seems interesting and cute, and I'm tickled that Michael Cera seems to have hooked up with someone based on having a genuine intellectual or artistic connection instead of tapping some empty shell of a Vanessa Hudgens automaton lookalike."

Socalled, there are no words for how much I love you.

Posted by: Shinykate at May 12, 2009 3:57 PM

I actually just watched the trailer and that may be one of the worst trailers ever. If I want a cheese-tastic dance movie, I will watch Center Stage. It's so bad it's great.

Posted by: Melody at May 12, 2009 4:01 PM

What do you want me to say? The girl is fat.

What exactly the fuck are you talking about?

Posted by: Jay at May 12, 2009 4:05 PM

This is a joke. That movie can't be real.

Posted by: courtney at May 12, 2009 4:07 PM

I just realized this is set in Philadelphia. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT. New York, Boston, L.A., Baltimore, DC, Chicago. They all get championship sports teams and compelling stories. What the fuck does Philadelphia get? This bullshit. Philadelphia has a crumbling infrastructure and an intractable drug problem. We get "Hack." Baltimore gets "The Wire." L.A. gets Raymond Chandler. We get Lisa fucking Scottoline. The fourth largest city in the country (Fuck you, Phoenix. You're an overgrown goddamn suburb.) and we don't have shit but a dude who's been dead for 200 years in Ben Franklin and the most fattening sandwiches in the whole goddamn world. I want to cry . . . Wait. No. I want to punch a nun. Better, a screenwriter.

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at May 12, 2009 4:08 PM

The whitest movie of all time is Gods and Generals, the Civil War movie about Stonewall Jackson and how awesome and not racist he was. Mmhmm.

Posted by: Lucas at May 12, 2009 4:20 PM

Skitz, you are contractually obligated to watch this. It's what you get for being pasty and lacking in melanin.

But don't feel so unlucky--as a Latina I am obligated to watch everything J-Lo has ever done.

Oh, the pain.

Posted by: figgy at May 12, 2009 4:20 PM

Gah, Pretty Woman is totally the whitest movie ever. That shit be so BLAND, ese!.

(Said while snapping my fingers and swiveling my head)

Posted by: figgy at May 12, 2009 4:24 PM

Pretensions of multi-cultularity are a must for a movie to be considered amongst the "whitest":

Jerry Maguire
Six Degrees of Separation
Crash
The Soloist

Posted by: sansho1 at May 12, 2009 4:26 PM

Napoleon Dynamite.

Pedro and all.

Posted by: figgy at May 12, 2009 4:47 PM

In no particular order:

-Pretty Woman
-In the Bedroom
-Every Merchant Ivory movie
-every movie based on a Jane Austen story
-every movie that sounds likes its based on a Jane Austen story
-WhenHarryMetSleeplessSteelMagnolias
-every movie where one of the characters is a butler or a maid

Posted by: John W at May 12, 2009 5:19 PM

Vicky Christina Barcelona is pretty damn white. I mean, the main characters are getting their masters in Catalan identity and doing the affected artist bit (respectively) and apparently everyone in the movie who's NOT Javier Bardem or Penelope Cruz has scads of money and get to sit around discussing the pros and cons of sailing, golfing, and which obscenely wealthy suburb of New York City they live in.

I mean, OK, it's set in Spain. It's still whiter than the bread I make my sandwiches with.

Posted by: Genny (also Rusty) at May 12, 2009 5:20 PM

I amend my previous response to encompass all Woody Allen movies, as long as I'm at it.

Posted by: Genny (also Rusty) at May 12, 2009 5:20 PM

It's still whiter than the bread I make my sandwiches with.

Posted by: Genny (also Rusty) at May 12, 2009 5:20 PM

Pffffffffffffffffft...no organic whole grain?

I laugh at you.


Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 12, 2009 6:08 PM

Hey Snath! I know of one more movie that had it's theme song used over and over and over again. Remember the Titans.

As for white movies...I like Powder. And Superman Returns.

Posted by: Four Eyes at May 12, 2009 6:46 PM

Whitest movie evar: The Big Chill. Sweet muffuggin' Christ. That movie makes me want to kill puppies. With a shoe.

Runner-up: Crash, of course. (Yeah, I know the cast isn't monochromatic but the mindset sure as fuck is.)

Posted by: Jerce at May 12, 2009 6:54 PM

'Canadian white'?
Watch it, Toby.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at May 12, 2009 7:59 PM

Triumph of the Will . . . Smith

(actually, I love Will Smith, pre-Scientology)

Posted by: Elfrieda at May 12, 2009 8:44 PM

Chariots of Fire

Posted by: ted at May 12, 2009 9:49 PM

I'm a little pissy over the "Canadian White" comment.

Posted by: grinder at May 12, 2009 9:55 PM

I'll see this if Benji's in it.

(until then, I'll be over in the corner hating myself a little)

Posted by: general rhubarb at May 12, 2009 11:56 PM

(Pats Tracer Bullet on back)

Now, now Tracer, don't be bitter. Philly also got the gay Tom Hanks movie where he dances with Antonio Banderas dressed as a Navy officer and died of AIDS. Your city's cup runneth over my friend.

Posted by: scorzi at May 13, 2009 12:20 AM

I got the vibe from this trailer that this is the type of stuff that Mormons or Christian Evangelicals would consider just racy enough (but still wholesome enough!) to allow their teenagers to watch.

I think the older Duggar kids would sneak this like it was porn.

Posted by: scorzi at May 13, 2009 12:23 AM

Cracker-ass movies:

The Breakfast Club.

Road House.

There Will Be Blood.

Posted by: Mattfactor at May 13, 2009 12:51 AM

21

I submit:

Any film that can be labeled as:
-twee
-quirky
-indie
-romantic comedy
-coming of age
-from the fetid, pus-filled mind of Vincent Gallo
-'Directed by Cameron Crowe' (everyone's favourite criminally-overrated sling-ster of the self-involved and anodyne). Ugh, he makes Heart crappier just by association.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at May 13, 2009 1:33 AM

Hey, I'm pretty sure I saw two black people and one Latina in that trailer. And no, I'm not sure that makes this any less white. Boy, do I hope I can catch this on one of the basic cable channels some time. I am not even kidding. I swear, the more that Dustin et al., bring horrible, terrible movies to our attention, the more I want to see them. Yep, something's not right in my brain.

Posted by: tamatha at May 13, 2009 11:40 AM

Another strike against this film--the female lead starts out mousy, with bad hair, glasses and plain clothes, but by the end she's dressing like a skank, got herself some highlights and somehow acquired perfect vision. Booooo.

Posted by: DeadBessie at May 13, 2009 12:51 PM

Whitest movie ever? Elizabeth. I love that movie, but seriously, the women were bleached.

Posted by: Sweetie Dahling at May 13, 2009 4:27 PM

Reality Bites, and the movie did too.
I present: Winona Ryder: A Portrait of Homogeneity.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at May 13, 2009 7:59 PM

"Citizen Kane"

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at May 14, 2009 1:59 AM

I hear you Brook, I kept expecting Dancing in Heaven to queue up during the trailer. I'll probably end up seeing it some day, being the dance movie whore that I am.

Quiz Show is pretty damn white, but at least deals with class issues.

Posted by: icyn2 at May 14, 2009 5:22 AM

Fans of Amy Smart- We just set up a contest where you can win $1,000 and be featured on the Love N' Dancing DVD just by posting yourself dancing to one of the songs from the movie! Here is the link for more
info: http://www.lndchallenge.com Looking forward to seeing you video!!

Posted by: jenna at May 14, 2009 8:17 PM