Hello :-)
Dance films have been a staple of the movie goers diet for years. ‘Dirty Dancing’, the ‘Step Up’ movies, (my favourite) Strictly Ballroom, Take the Lead, Streetdance, Shall We Dance; the list goes on and on. The most recent addition to this is ‘Cuban Fury’ which I went to see the other week.
‘Cuban Fury’ is the story of Bruce Garrett (Nick Frost) former teen Salsa champion and lathe engineer. Bruce’s passion for dancing is re-ignited when he sees his new boss Julia (Rashida Jones) in a Salsa class and decides the only way he can win her over is by burning up the dance floor once again.
‘Cuban Fury’ is not burdened by an excess of plot, which is and isn’t a criticism. There are moments of brilliance here; it’s just a shame the film plays it so safe.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed ‘Cuban Fury’ and that is mainly down to Nick Frost. He is so likable you can’t help but be charmed by him. He’s also a master of physicality and timing. The very first scene where we see him eating yoghurt is a perfect example of this; no dialogue, no special effects, just Frost watching telly and eating yoghurt but still it makes you smile.
His supporting cast do quite well. Rory Kinnear, Rashida Jones and Olivia Coleman are Bruce’s best friend, love interest and sister respectively and seem to be having a good time with it, even if their characters are pulled directly from the ‘Big Book of Movie Character Clichés’.
One of the more interesting characters is Chris O’Dowd’s Drew, Bruce’s asshat boss who almost completely smashes the ‘nice guy’ niche he seemed to have been carving out for himself after his recent appearances in ‘The Boat that Rocked’, ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World’.
Threatening to steal the film from under Frost’s nose though is Bejan played by Kayvan Novak. I struggle to think of another actor that could do this super-camp yet deadpan role, let alone do it as well as Novak.
The laughs are dotted throughout and lead up to the film’s funniest moment, a dance fight between Bruce and Drew in their work’s car park. The comedy, though it does tickle your funny bone, is pretty genteel and never spiteful. I imagine it would have been tempting to turn this into a feature length version of the dance themed ‘You’ve Been Framed’ montages and play up Frost’s size for laughs. I’m really pleased they didn’t do this because Frost has obviously trained really hard in preparation for the film and it’d be doing him a massive disservice to stoop to that level.
‘Cuban Fury’ is ultimately frustrating though because there’s potential for a lot more to happen. The story is pretty formulaic and features the obligatory training montage. I quite like that it’s so small scale but that doesn’t mean it has to be so predictable. ‘Hot Fuzz’ is small scale but thinks it’s a Hollywood
blockbuster, I wish this film had inherited some of that confidence. I want ‘Cuban Fury’ to stay as parochial as it is but I also want it to aspire to be a ‘Step Up’ movie. Instead it sometimes feels awkward, in places almost apologetic for being there.
As much as I hate attaching star ratings to films I’d say this is a flat out three star film. Inoffensive and sweet natured it’s not bad but it’s not as good as it could’ve been. Bolstered by a great cast with the ever-lovely Nick Frost at its centre, I just wish that ‘Cuban Fury’ would lead instead of follow.
‘Cuban Fury’ is still in cinemas now.
Now let’s have some…
Reasons to be Cheerful :-)
2. The Oscars is a thing that happened! Here’s the list of winners. I’m not massively bothered about the whole thing but it’s nice to know isn’t it.
That’ll do for today!
Goodbye till next time :-)
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