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.

John Goodman is wonderful here. Even though his character is seriously injured and near death, Steve just keeps on telling his story and his mind seems clear, despite all that is going on. Steve even cares about Frank, as bad a shape as he's in! Of course, when he is narrating and we see something else, he sounds perfectly normal. He tells the story two different times, though, and the other time we see at the very beginning of the movie. We just don't get to see that much.

I know Robert Carlyle mainly is a crafty and sometimes gleeful villain, and I'm quite used to seeing him go back and forth between the present day and an earlier life, which is what this movie does a lot. Here, there is one scene that hints at his future, but mostly he is a kind and caring man who also shows he hasn't gotten over his late wife. It's a different side of him, certainly, though he had not played the villain yet.

The scenes with kids are fun and just edgy enough, with the humorous attempts to be "proper".

I've seen Mary Steenburgen in so many great roles. She's kind of flat here a lot of the time, trying so hard to be proper, but she gets an attitude change later. It's still a good performance because that's just how the character is. And she is a wonderful dancer.

Marisa Tomei is quite likable and someone I can support as a potential romantic interest, quite a contrast somehow to a role of hers I saw earlier.

I'm not familiar with Donnie Wahlberg though I've heard of him. He's mostly your typical bully but has a vulnerable side.

A couple of other actors have only a few lines, but they are well known and do quite well. Danny DeVito was Steve's cellmate in prison.

And Octavia Spencer has one line. But she does it so well it's clear she will go on to be highly regarded.

The best thing about the movie for me was the music. No, they're not the original versions of the songs in most case, but the sound of the big band era is back, baby! This movie swings!

But of course not everything here is positive. Not everything will work out the way we would hope and yet some endings are happy.

I had a good time. Mostly.

I caught this film at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck Michigan. Directed by Randall Miller and a star filled cast, this film was the best of the festival, and may be one of my favorites of the year. The film begins with baker Robert Carlyle driving down a deserted highway. He comes upon a stranger in a car wreck, played by John Goodman, and the two talk with each other, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Goodman tells Carlyle of his planned reunion with his childhood love at the place mentioned in the title.

This beautiful film is wonderfully acted, with such stars as Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Astin, Donnie Wahlberg, David Paymer, and Ernie Hudson. I loved the story, I didn't realize you could do so much with such a simple outline. I loved the structure of the film, the way it was edited and shot. There were some very funny moments, very touching moments, and overall it's just a great experience. Some of the filmmakers showed up for the festival and had some great stories to tell. The movie was originally made 15 years ago as a short film of the same title, and a lot of the scenes from the short film are used in the feature as flashback scenes (I knew I saw Donkeylips from Salute Your Shorts).

I think with such an all-star cast and such a good story, this film will at least get release in major cities. So if you get the chance, check this movie out.

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!

I loved the movie. I hope you get a chance to see it and it comes to your area. Its a great life story. John Goodman plays a man who is trying to return to his childhood girlfriend. Robert Carlyle finds him in his hour of need, and agrees to meet the childhood girlfriend for him

Robert Carlyle and Marisa Tomei are so wonderful together. The story of their meeting and falling and love is very romantic.

Mary Steenburgen is outstanding in her role as the dance instructor.

And Donnie Wahlberg steals the movie with his character.

Its a movie filled with outstanding actors. And a very touching and moving story. With great childhood stories.