Moderately fun and charming, but lacking anything nearing a substantial plot and at least half an hour too long, "Dance With Me" is the latest entry in the dance oriented, romantic drama genre. Although dance competitors and afficionados might get a kick out of the picture's dance numbers, don't expect mainstream audiences to make this picture a hit like "Saturday Night Fever" or "Dirty Dancing."
Despite the plentiful dance related material and individual numbers, the reason for that is because only two of the numbers -- an early scene set in a Latin dance club where partners are exchanged in rapid fire succession, along with the first lively number in the competitive finale -- stand out as big audience pleasers. The rest of the material is okay, but none of it will last long in one's memory as have numbers from those other well-known movies.
If not for the music and dancing, however, there would hardly be anything left worth noting. As written by first time screenwriter Daryl Matthews (a former dancer and one of the film's choreographers), the story is about as threadbare as possible and features little dramatic conflict to hold one's interest.
Following the standard formula where the would-be lovers are initially at odds, eventually fall for each other, and then break up -- egad! -- right before the big finale, the film's few dramatic elements and conflict feel artificial and forced. Despite having a less than thirty day countdown to the big Vegas dance championship, there's absolutely no urgency present, and the only real conflict exists between what motivates the leads on the dance floor and a paternally related element that's too obvious to generate much interest.
The same holds true for the theme of family and "home" that permeates the film. While there's certainly nothing wrong with that in general, the filmmakers have pounded that message so hard -- and too obviously with an accompanying piano driven sentimental score -- that it's surprising a flashing "important message" title doesn't appear on screen to accompany and notify the audience of such moments.
Although none of that makes the film horrible by any means and its fluffy charm counters some of the problems, its overall weakness is surprising considering that Randa Haines serves as the director. Responsible for helming pictures such as "Children of a Lesser God" and "The Doctor," Haines obviously knows how to tell a compelling story, but seems more interested here in letting the dance material take center stage over the plot. Unfortunately, except for those two decent dance numbers, most of the remaining material is rather bland.
Surprisingly, the same generally holds true for the performances and the chemistry between the leads. While international Latino star Chayanne (who makes his Hollywood debut performance) has boatloads of charm, and beauty pageant queen, turned singer, turned actress, Vanessa L. Williams ("Soul Food," "Eraser") is radiantly gorgeous and certainly competent, I just never bought into their chemistry together. Nor did I ever experience that "warm, fuzzy feeling" often associated with hoping (and knowing) that the two will eventually be a couple.
A few of their early scenes have some spark, but there's a lack of any overall electricity needed to make the film really work, such as is usually found in any number of successful films in the romance genre. Much of that, however, is directly the fault of the weak script and its underdeveloped characters, and not from the performances themselves.
Comeback kid, Kris Kristofferson ("A Star Is Born," "Lone Star") -- who appears in two pictures this week (the other being "Blade") -- is adequate in his role, but likewise suffers from a poorly written character (and isn't helped by it being a mostly introverted role). All of that leaves the supporting cast to take up the slack, but even they are only giving a few moments to shine individually.
With only tiny bits of conflict or dramatic interest present, the film hangs around like an attractive, but ultimately boring dance partner, and if not for a singular country-western dance number, you'd never guess the film was set in Houston what with all of the immigrants and scenes set in Latin dance clubs.
About as predictable as they come, featuring an array of dance numbers that are mostly and surprisingly bland considering the picture is counting on them to carry it, and way too long at more than two hours, the film has to be considered something of a disappointment, despite the talented cast. We give "Dance With Me" just a 3.5 out of 10.