Dirty Dancing: ABC's '80s Reboot Feels out of Step in 2017

Dialogue, and a musical component that has characters bursting into songs from the film, are laugh-out-loud funny -- unintentionally.

[...] what made it catch on with the masses, apart from hot and steamy scenes, was its provocative storylines that addressed pressing issues such as feminism and abortion.

ABC's Dirty Dancing presents these now every day topics, as well as a thread about interracial romance, as taboo in a way that's disconnected from the present -- leaving you to feel like a 12-year-old might after being given a Discman.

[...] that shoulder shrug of a story is favorable to the race-based commentary Dirty Dancing attempts with Lisa, who befriends a black kid also at the resort.

A similar trajectory helped last year's Hairspray Live! feel relevant through cheeky winks threaded through earnest performances and a stellar cast.

[...] casting alone isn't enough to redeem it, and unless viewers plan to do some 21st century tweeting while hate-watching, Dirty Dancing doesn't have enough swing in the modern era to make it mean a thing.