I was inspired by this article on Cinematical.com to make my own list of my favorite WTF? dances scenes in non-musicals. You know, those incongruous, but absolutely fantastic moments in otherwise regular old movies, when the characters surreally break into a dance number?
So in no particular order, here are a few of my favorites:
10 Things I Hate About You
The first film I thought of when I saw Cinematical's list was this one. I remember completely falling for Heath Ledger the minute he broke out singing You're Just Too Good To Be True and when the marching band kicks in, the scene just soars.
Beetlejuice
Sorry about the subtitles, but it's the only video of it I could find! The funnest scene in an already really fun movie. I love when they shake their asses - the look on the face of that blonde in the gold dress is a riot!!
40 Year Old Virgin
I can't believe the ending credit sequence for this movie is not on youtube. Seeing this in the theaters I almost lizzed myself several times from the wonderful banter between Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan, Romany Malco and Steve Carell and then suddenly at the very end, Carell looks directly into the camera and starts singing and the end credits evolve into the most fantastic hippie dippy dance sequence set to Age of Aquarius. Pure entertainment bliss.
Can't Buy Me Love
"It's the African Anteating Ritual!" I suppose this one is kind of cheating because they ARE at a dance, so it's not so strange that they'd be dancing. But when everyone starts copying Ronald's moves (oh Patrick Dempsey, your McDreamy potential was just starting to blossom) because they think he's "cool," it becomes something more than just another scene set at a teen dance.
Pretty in Pink
I love me some Duckie Dale. How could Andy be so blind as to prefer bland Blane over colorful Duckie?
Simple Men
Ahhhhh Hal Hartley. For such dark films, he is able to imbue them with so much joy like in this scene set to Sonic Youth's Kool Thing.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
In a movie where Ferris Bueller as the ultimate cool teenager pulls off an entire day of impossible feats, crashing a parade float to dance and lip synch to The Beatles' Twist & Shout doesn't seem all that improbable. By this point in the movie, it's just expected that Ferris could pull off something like this. I've never been to a parade this fun.
(500) Days of Summer
This movie seemed to catch a lot of flak over the summer. People seemed to either love it or hate it and I loved it. I especially loved the little surreal touches like this post-coital dance number. Who hasn't felt like this after a night spent with that perfect person?
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Again this is a little bit of a cheat because the movie opens with this dance sequence. It can't be that much of a WTF? moment when it's the first thing you see! But what this scene did was set you up for exactly what kind of movie you were about to see. I miss this Mike Myers.
A Life Less Ordinary
Yes, this is a pretty bad movie. Mainly because Cameron Diaz is so terrible, but for me Ewan can do no wrong. He's got a great voice and I love to see him allowed to flex this one of his many talent muscles. This is a great little scene in an otherwise mediocre movie.
40 Year Old Virgin
