Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School

It took a while before i felt involved with the film and the characters. However, once more characters started joining the dance class i started to look forward to every scene in the ballroom. Robert Carlyle was obviously the lead role but Mary Steenburgen was fabulous. She was funny but serious and assertive, and her wardrobe throughout the movie evolved along with her character. A nice, subtle touch. As was the gentleman who starts and stops the music for her during the film, i think his name was Freeway? I started looking forward to every time he hit play on that tiny boom box and hearing the music boom through the theater sound. Overall i really enjoyed the film even though it started a little slow.

Watched this on Amazon prime. A movie about love, loss, promises and a bit of dancing. A fantastic cast led by Robert Carlyle and Marisa Tomei and a great script, this is a wonderful little movie, both happy and sad. A big thumbs up from me.

The film's use of two voices relaying three narrative threads, artfully woven without confusion while maintaining audience interest and focus, could be used as a textbook for compound story structure. If the story hadn't been expanded from a short film thereby requiring this approach, I'd be heaping superlative praise on its inventiveness as well.

Entertaining, well-cast with excellent performances by its ensemble of seasoned character actors, and just quirky enough to offset its sometimes saccharin character, I think this will grow a deserved following when it airs on cable. A solid illustration of the possibility of 'charm' in contemporary cinema, it presented little violence beyond its illustration of an automobile accident site and the language of adolescent boys, and managed a passionate but never prurient love scene under cover of a liberal dusting of flour.

Enchanting!

Frank (Robert Carlyle) is a widowed baker, trying to recover from his wife's sudden death. As he is driving the highway, one day, he comes across a serious auto accident involving a single driver, Steve (John Goodman). Told to keep the man conscious through conversation, Frank learns that Steve was on his way to a dance class appointment he made, 40 years ago, with a young girl he had a crush on! He begs Frank, when he can, to go to the Marilyn Hotchkiss Dance and Charm School, find Lisa and tell her why he couldn't make it. Frank does so, reluctantly, much to the surprise of his widowers support group. Once at the school, however, now operated by Marilyn's daughter, Mary Ann (Mary Steenburgen), and featuring a beautiful lady, Meredith (Marisa Tomei), Frank is intrigued. Failing to find Lisa, the baker, nevertheless, goes back the following week, even though Meredith's troubled stepbrother (Donnie Wahlberg) warns him to keep away from his sister. Before long, Frank and all of the widowers are learning to "live again" with the healing power of ballroom dance. But, will Steve remain alive and will Lisa ever be found? This lovely film is easy to recommend to fans of romantic drama and, indeed, all those who admire quality film-making. The story is wonderful, after a slow opening, with some memorable lines and situations. Also, the setting is fantastic, an old but beautiful ballroom, with Mary Ann parting the stage curtains at each class' beginning and following a pattern of etiquette that recalls a different era. As for the cast, Carlyle, Steenburgen, the always lovely Tomei, Goodman, Sean Astin, Paymer, and especially Wahlberg, are made-to-order great. Naturally, the costumes, photography and inventive direction are also strong assets. Want to put a spring in your step and smile on your face? Dance out the door and secure a view soon.

I'm ripping off another reviewer's title for "Lisbon Story" (the original "good for the soul" movie), but I can't think of a better description for "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School."

I won't even get into the plot except to say that it's at times surprisingly dark, surprisingly uplifting, surprisingly tense, and just overall surprising. It deals with themes of devastating loss, rediscovery, pain, anger, violence, and confusion but in a way that gets your toes tapping to the Lindy Hop. Watch the movie, and that'll make sense.

If you've gotten past the supercilious title, which doubtlessly scares off anyone in the mood for Saw VIII, and you've gotten as far as the 3rd paragraph of this review which includes supercilious words like "supercilious", then I think you'll get it. This is a movie which explores the veneer of charm which we often use to cloak a deeper ugliness in our lives. But it doesn't do it sarcastically; it actually points out how an occasional ballroom dance may, occasionally, be the cure for the horrors that we experience.

It's no surprise that the filmmakers managed to snare an all star cast, because this is the kind of movie that actors (who aren't solely obsessed with money) would eagerly jump into. Award winning talent like John Goodman, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, and some of my personal favorites like Ernie Hudson (The Crow, Ghostbusters) and Donnie Wahlberg (the aforementioned Saw movies) as well as a cameo by Danny Devito really bring this story to life. And of course there's the main character played by Robert Carlyle, an actor whom I'm not familiar with but I'll forever remember his performance here.

As for the dancing itself, no, it's not really a showcase of fancy footwork (for that, you should check out the awesome Aussie flick "Strictly Ballroom") although Donnie Wahlberg does some impressive moves as the hilarious cheeseball Baryshnikov wannabee who needs to button his shirt back above his navel. This is really a human story with elements of romcom, elements of tragedy, elements of suspense, and regardless of how it turns out "good for the soul."