Salsa Fury

The movie was a relatively simple movie all about self-confidence and putting yourself out there. Thats pretty standard fare, but...

The cast are excellent. Most of the people in the movie that dance are actors rather than dancers, unlike movies like "Step up", and it shows with characters like Bejan. He's hilarious, extremely camp and actually quite credible as someone you'd likely see on a salsa dance floor.

Unlike some other reviewers, I am a long way from 50, but I do actually know a little bit about salsa. This movie represents parts of the salsa scene that people not in it don't know about. It shows various styles of salsa (rueda, on-1, on-1 threesomes and carnival), it shows dance style similar to salsa & enjoyed by many on the salsa scene (some shots looked like kizomba or bachata {hard to tell with the bad framing of the shots}, and there was Bejan telling people doing aerobic dance {zumba} to go back to their leisure centres). The movie does have quite a lot of capoeira-inspired dancing, and a lot of dancing that you'd only expect professional dance performers to even come close to attempting (loads of lifts)

Sound: The movie pretty much sounded as it should have, but there was one particularly irritating oversight. The guy(s) who did the soundtrack really didn't worry about matching the on-screen dancing to the musical beat. It made the dancers look like they were about 2 and a half beats off, just horrible.

Its definitely worth watching.

There are plenty of reviews here breaking down the details, so I won't go into them. The storyline is basically the old "loser shows he's a winner and gets the girl" staple, with the salsa dancefloor as the battleground.

The salsa scene portraid is a bit of a caricature, well it's a comedy after all, but I think it gets a lot of the essence of it, all sorts of characters of all shapes and sizes getting together in places varying from upstairs rooms in pubs to big nightclubs and just fun sharing the music and the dancing. It's a parody, but an affectionate one.

And anyone who's danced salsa in London can play "spot the dancer I know" in the final scenes, because they used real London salsa dancers as extras. I think I've had lessons from pretty much everyone on that competition dance floor over the years.

Like most people, I'm used to seeing Nick Frost as part of a 'double act' with friend and fellow actor Simon Pegg (or technically 'triple act' with their director Edgar Wright). However, in 'Cuban Fury' we see what he's capable of when headlining the bill.

In case you haven't seen any of the posters for this film, it's about dancing. Frost plays his typically mellow, overweight self who used to dance as a child, until he was bullied into giving it up by other boys. Now, as a man, he has to regain his dancing feet in order to win over the (naturally beautiful and coincidentally American) woman he loves.

I could tell you how it goes, but, if you can't guess, then you haven't watched enough films. Its major flaw is that it's painfully predictable. You can sort of see every situation coming and feel like you could have even written it yourself if you put your mind to it. However, despite this being a 'tried and tested' formula, it's still enjoyable to watch.

Nick Frost may not be fighting zombies or aliens, but he's still naturally charming and managed to be watchable as he bumbles his way through the film. After watching it I didn't feel like I'd wasted an hour and a half of my life (although I'm not likely to bother watching it again on account of me already having seen a hundred films just like it). It's basically nothing new, but if you're in the mood for something light, frothy and easy-going, there are worst ways of spending your time.

Also, special mention to Olivia Coleman who, in my opinion, stole every scene she was in. Pity she wasn't in it more.

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Nick Frost usually comes as one-half of a package deal. With Simon Pegg (and their behind-the-scenes collaborator Edgar Wright), Frost has starred in three of the most gloriously subversive, smart and silly British comedies of the past ten years: Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. Can he hold the screen and get the laughs when he's headlining a film, with neither Pegg nor Wright in sight? The answer is, thankfully, yes. Cuban Fury is a great vehicle for Frost - he grounds the fun, loopy, cheerful dance comedy in something a little more real and affecting, even if the film doesn't quite hit the brilliant heights of the aforementioned Cornetto Trilogy.

After being bullied mercilessly by a pack of boys as a child, Bruce (Frost) swears off the one thing he's really good at: salsa dancing. Fast forward a few decades, and he's a bored, boring office drone forced to suffer the company of Drew (Chris O'Dowd), his lewdest, rudest, meanest colleague. When he meets his new, gorgeous boss Julia (Rashida Jones), however, Bruce feels compelled to step out of his comfort zone - especially when he realises that she loves salsa dancing too. Even as Drew tries to worm his way into Julia's affections, Bruce resolves to put on his dancing shoes again.

The plot of the film is something of a hit-and-miss affair - it can occasionally feel like it's been forcibly stitched together from a bunch of really great stand-alone scenes and ideas. Some of the narrative decisions don't make a whole lot of sense either. Why, for instance, is Julia anointed the boss rather than a new colleague? It seems to complicate matters unnecessarily throughout the entire film, given the ethical issues at stake in an employer-employee relationship.

But there's no real need to over-think things when Cuban Fury is just so goshdarn chirpy, funny and entertaining. The film practically radiates its own brand of amiable humour, often zipping from goofy wordplay to awkward slapstick within the space of a single scene. Amidst the roof-top dance-offs and mix-tape mix-ups, there's even a little room for huge helpings of heart. Bruce becomes a better person for doing what he loves, and it's a joy to see him find the confidence he'd lost all those years ago.

Whenever the script misses a beat, its oddball characters come to the rescue. Frost's Bruce is a standard-issue unlikely hero, and Jones is almost criminally wasted as the painfully underwritten Julia. But the weirdos dancing around them are a delight. Hilariously committed to the part of Drew, O'Dowd is clearly having fun being as rude, nasty and offensive as he possibly can. Ian McShane is marvellous as Bruce's dour old dance teacher, Ron, and Kayvan Novak steals scenes aplenty as Bruce's gleefully flamboyant new friend Bejan. Even so, it's Olivia Colman who walks away with top honours: she's spectacularly funny and appealing as Bruce's open-hearted, game-for-anything sister Sam.

Cuban Fury isn't a game-changer by any stretch of the imagination. Unlike the Cornetto Trilogy, it doesn't have something smarter and more subversive to say about its chosen genre of film. This is a sports-laced romantic comedy with no greater ambition than making its audience laugh. Not every element of it works perfectly, and the script can be lead-footed in parts. But, when it comes down to it, the film is so sweet and silly that it sometimes approaches the sublime.

These 90 minutes had me laughing so much I had tears on my cheeks by the end of the film. Cuban Fury is a great movie. It is full of rom-com clichés and it uses them all superbly. Everything is in there including a training montage. I laughed loads from start to finish. It you want a check list of reasons to see this film then: Nick Frost - Check Chris O'Dowd - Check Rashida Jones - Check Kayvan Novack - Check and Check again. Olivia Coleman - Check.

There is also great support from Ian McShane, Alexandra Roach and Rory Kinear as well as a very quick and hilarious cameo from a star that I will not name. Nick Frost gets a chance to shine and show that he is more than Simon Pegg's sidekick and Kayvan Novack steals every scene he is in. The script written by John Brown is very lean and has lots quotable lines such as "Al Pa-f*cking-cino" and "I'm late for my ball waxing". IMDb lists some cast members who do not actually appear in the film which makes me suspect that there has been some good editing to keep the movie tight and maintain its momentum. There is one teeny tiny flaw in the plot (who uses cassette tapes in their car these days?) but I laughed so much that I don't care.

Superb. See it

Now, where can I get salsa lessons?