Editing Flashdance (section)

===Critical response===
The film received negative reviews from critics. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 37% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 4.80/10. The site's consensus is: "All style and very little substance, ''Flashdance'' boasts eye-catching dance sequences—and benefits from an appealing performance from [[Jennifer Beals]]—but its narrative is flat-footed".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flashdance/ |title=''Flashdance'' |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher= [[Fandango Media]] |access-date=2023-08-17 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930040826/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/flashdance/ |archive-date=September 30, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> {{Metacritic film prose|39|11|ref=yes|access-date=10 May 2025}}

[[Roger Ebert]] placed it on his list of ''Most Hated'' films,<ref name="hated" /> and in giving the film 1.5 out of 4 stars in his review, stated: "Jennifer Beals shouldn't feel bad. She is a natural talent, she is fresh and engaging here, and only needs to find an agent with a natural talent for turning down scripts".<ref name="Ebert" /> In his review for the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', Ebert said "If Flashdance had spent just a little more effort getting to know the heroine of its story, and a little less time trying to rip off ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', it might have been a much better film."<ref name="Ebert">{{cite web |date=April 19, 1983 |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Flashdance |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/flashdance-1983 |website=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] }}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' compared the film to a series of music videos, "Watching Flashdance is pretty much like looking at MTV for 96 minutes. Virtually plotless, exceedingly thin on characterization and sociologically laughable, pic at least lives up to its title by offering an anthology of extraordinarily flashy dance numbers."<ref>{{cite news |date=January 1, 1983|title=Flashdance |url=https://variety.com/review/VE1117790959 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] }}</ref> [[Janet Maslin]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote: "With a score by Giorgio Moroder, and with ingenious costumes that are utterly au courant, Flashdance contains such dynamic dance scenes that it's a pity there's a story here to bog them down."<ref>{{cite news |date=15 April 1983 |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |title=Pittsburgh and Dance |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/15/movies/pittsburgh-and-dance.html |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

In a 1984 essay for the journal ''[[Jump Cut (journal)|Jump Cut]]'', critic Kathryn Kalinak questioned the characterization of Alex: "How could an 18 year-old woman land a skilled labor job as a welder in the unionized steel industry of an economically depressed union town? ... Not only are any other women missing in the factory, so are employees, male or female, under 30."<ref name="Kalinak">{{cite journal|last=Kalinak|first=Kathryn|url=https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC29folder/Flashdance.html|title=Flashdance: The dead end kid|journal=[[Jump Cut (journal)|Jump Cut]]|date=February 1984|issue=29|pages=3–5}}</ref>