Cha Cha Real Smooth was reviewed out of the SXSW Film Festival, and will release on Apple TV+ on June 17, 2022.
If traders treated Hollywood like the stock market, everyone would be buying into Cooper Raiff after Cha Cha Real Smooth. The 25-year-old Texan filmmaker follows his buzzy indie Shithouse with a small-town tale about the splendor of singular moments. Romantic dramas often operate in big gestures — Matthew McConaughey ditches his bachelor ways for marriage, Sandra Bullock locks down Mr. Right — but Cha Cha Real Smooth emphasizes how comparative pit stops throughout our lives can provide monumental experiences. Raiff channels all the post-college uncertainty that swirls in twenty-somethings who face infinite possibilities for a lovely story about relationships as romance, friendships, or the indefinable whatevers that make our lives so beautifully complex.
Raiff writes, directs, and stars as Tulane graduate Andrew, who goes from dormitory keggers to sharing a room with his brother, David (Evan Assante), in his stepfather, Greg's (Brad Garrett), house. Leslie Mann plays Raiff's mother with limitless maternal sweetness, while Brad Garrett's serious-and-sour face is flawless in response to incessant insults thrown from Raiff's Andrew, a particularly protective son. Cha Cha Real Smooth captures every out-of-college kid's worst nightmare, where there are no full-time job projects, just a mall food court gig selling meat on a stick — colorful vendor's storefront and all. Fate luckily intervenes when Andrew takes David to a bat mitzvah and becomes a professional party host, where Andrew strikes a temptation-filled connection with parent Domino (Dakota Johnson) and a cute buddy rapport with her autistic daughter, Lola (Vanessa Burghardt).
If Cha Cha Real Smooth were a Lifetime headliner or regular studio rom-com, it'd likely be about Andrew whisking Domino away from some loveless, crusty engagement. Instead, Raiff focuses his beam-of-sunshine screenplay on finding nuggets of positivity in a somewhat impulsive whirlwind of events. Characters are allowed to be messy, have open conversations, and not feel shame for being terrified of futures either destined for marital routines or unknown in a haze of young-twenties explorations. Andrew's and Domino's feelings may be honest, but they're chasing immediate comforts in uncomfortable times. Letting that be alright is important and healing. Two people seek genuine companionship when their paths cross and time is against them, making memories they'll remember — they'll cherish — for the rest of their existences. It’s that simple, and that effective.
The character of Andrew is, was, or will be so many of us — flaws, aspirations, emptiness, and all. Raiff plays Andrew with such astonishing warmth and heaps of misguided mess-ups, but always with this calming openness. The chemistry between Raiff and his supporting cast never ceases to please, whether Andrew's heart-to-hearts with autistic actress Vanessa Burghardt as the precious Lola (excellent in her banter), or giving Evan Assante's David kissing advice with such giddy sibling excitement. Heat radiates off the screen as Dakota Johnson and Raiff flirtatiously share intimate confessions over colorful ice pops or while waiting for rideshares. Andrew smiles through most of his heartbreaking and weary interactions as Raiff redefines what it means to deliver a feel-good performance. Even when Andrew is feeling defeated, Raiff digs deep and heaves wholesomeness like a life raft that we float on, soaking every lesson Andrew learns.
Cha Cha Real Smooth doesn't waste massive amounts of time on will-they, won't-they tension outside what's necessary for certain scenes. It's more about how Andrew and Domino will converse their way out of the dependency they've built. Raiff's screenplay is so sharp because early, and often, the incompatibility of their circumstances — Andrew needs to discover who he is, Domino requires the stability of fiancé Joseph (Raúl Castillo) — introduces this meaningful definition of soulmates as described by Andrew; how we encounter multiple soulmates throughout our mortal journeys, some only meant to help shape our lives for the next, which isn't the loss we presume. That’s not to make Cha Cha Real Smooth sound incredibly Hallmark and overwhelmingly schmaltzy, because comedy erupts over another of Andrew's classic zingers at Greg, or bar mitzvah shenanigans, or Lola's domination on the Bananagrams table. It's just impossible not to adore Raiff’s expression and acknowledgment of feelings that have clear answers but make us do or say the craziest things anyway.
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/KAkQF96
This could be a real lead forward for personal gaming... Revolutionise gaming
No comments:
Post a Comment