Katie Holmes Thought She Could Dance, Was Mostly Right
I'm coming a little late to Katie Holmes's performance last night on So You Think You Can Dance, her much-anticipated homage to Judy Garland's "Get Happy" number from Summer Stock. And while I wouldn't say Holmes embarrassed herself to the extent this morning's haters seem to believe, no one can really argue that it's a good thing the show isn't called So You Think You Can Lip Sync.
Still though, critics. Really? "Rote and stiff"? "Why did she think that was a good idea?"? "Tragic mess?" "The only way she can possibly make her husband's cock hard"? So on and so forth -- and so predictable. How about this for a judgment: America gets the entertainment it deserves. Viewers demanded 100 episodes' worth of hoofing amateurs on SYTYCD; to celebrate that milestone, Fox brought in Katie Holmes to play along. She was rough around the edges, but so is everyone else on the show. Isn't that the point here? People compete because their aspiration is necessarily greater than their talent, not the other way around?
Really, I'm asking. I see mistakes here, but I don't see mediocrity. Whatever her motivation, Holmes took a risk, eschewed irony and danced. She's fine, for Christ's sake. Somewhere in the cosmos, Judy Garland is thanking God she never had to deal with the Internet.
[via The Live Feed]
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Comments
I won't bother to play the clip--I have better things to do, such as absolutely anything else--but tell me: did Katie get her weight to fluctuate wildly as she performed, the same way that Judy Garland did?
She was rough around the edges, but so is everyone else on the show. Isn’t that the point here? People compete because their aspiration is necessarily greater than their talent, not the other way around?
I think you've confused SYTYCD with American Idol, where the level singing is embarrassingly low. The dancers, especially the top twenty, are amazing and talented. Katie Holmes stinked up the stage.
I have to agree here -- the amateurs in the competition are actually incredibly talented (unlike American Idol), and it's the judges who are idiots (similar to American Idol).
It was a ridiculous way to celebrate their 100th show -- let's have an untrained non-dancer B-list celebrity-by-marriage dance a number that honors a randomly-selected, long-dead entertainer who was known primarily for her voice and not her dancing. How many marketing suits did it take to come up with that shit?
When compared to the quite talented SYTYCD dancers and even Judy Garland's (not so terrific in and of itself) original performance, I think it would be difficult to argue that she really brought anything to the party. I didn't think it was awful or anything, but I definitely felt that "rote and stiff" were fairly accurate descriptions of the number. I certainly didn't see any exuberance flowing through, but maybe that was just me.
This video is no longer available? Well screw you Dick Clark.
I won't claim to be an expert on dancing, but I was sure it required the movement of feet.