S13:W4 Tonight on Dancing with the Stars was “Movie Scores” night, which meant each of the pairs danced to famous songs from some of our favorite movies. Most of the themes were obvious ones, like the Superman theme and the theme to Raider’s of the Lost Arc, but by far the best song of the night went to Hope Solo and Maks, who had the pleasure of dancing to Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got A Friend In Me,” which was hopelessly delightful and just…exactly what this competition should be about.
But Hope and Maks’ sweet routine didn’t come for a while, and the night actually got off to a terrible start when Chynna Phillips and Tony Dovolani took the stage to dance a tango to the theme from Mission Impossible, and Chynna completely lost track of her steps and just blanked out so seriously that at one point during her routine, she was standing motionless on the dance floor. There were even a few times where if you looked at her face, she appeared to be crying. Luckily, the judges didn’t penalize her too much because what little of the dance she completed they enjoyed, and they gave her a solid 21 points even though they admitted her dance was a mess.
David Arquette stepped onto the floor next and danced the Paso Doble to the theme from Raiders of the Lost Arc, and we saw him approach the movements with a new kind of sophistication and determination, and the judges were truly impressed. They got 23 points.
And then Carson Kressley performed the Viennese Waltz to the song from The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and even though Len said it was worse than watching someone give birth, he pair received 20 points. It was almost like Carson and Anna got too caught up in the theme to even perform the dance, and Carson mentioned they had a bit of added trouble because they dropped the swords down onto the ground exactly where they were dancing, so they had trouble steering clear of them.
But the judges were pleasantly surprised when Hope Solo took the floor and danced the Foxtrot to “You’ve Got A Friend” from Toy Story and Len told the pair they were skilled enough to make it to the finals and possibly even walk away with the trophy. I honestly got tingles and goosebumps when I watched this dance, and perhaps it was because of the song’s brilliance, but I have to give credit to Hope and Maks for completely rising to the challenge and conveying the song’s message flawlessly. I believe I will be rooting for them the rest of the season. They got 24 points.
Then, Nancy Grace danced the Paso Doble the theme song from Flash Gordon, and of course her partner made her be the bull. Of course! Len said it was a underwhelming and lacked excitement, but Carrie Ann stepped up to Nancy’s defense and said they ought to be kinder to Nancy because she’s one of the older competitors remaining. They got 21 points.
Rob Kardashian danced the Paso Doble to the theme song from Superman, and during rehearsals Rob said he identified with Superman because he frequently felt misunderstood, and so he said he worked extra hard on his dance this week. However, I didn’t feel like there was a lot of dancing involved. I kept thinking back to the time Mel B and Maks performed their Paso Doble, and realized their dance was so much more riveting than Rob’s. But in any case, the judges appreciated Rob’s routine and gave him 24 points.
Next was Ricki Lake dancing the tango to the theme from Psycho, and this week Ricki struggled with the routine so much that she even wanted to quit a few times. But obviously she didn’t, and went on to receive the first 10s of the season! Her dance was really exceptional, and she’s clearly the judges’ favorite dancer this year. She earned 29 points for her performance.
Then came Chaz Bono who was assigned to do the Paso Doble to the theme from Rocky, and it was particularly important to him to do well because his mom, Cher, was in the audience. He still isn’t at the rest of the celebrities’ levels, but what he did last night was decent. The judges gave him 21 points.
And last but not least was J.R. Martinez, who danced the Foxtrot to the theme from The Pink Panther. Coming off of his very emotional dance from last week, everyone had very high expectations for Martinez this round, but unfortunately, the judges said routine was a little flat and underwhelming. But he earned a solid 26 points for his dance, and his spirit remains magnanimous.
