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Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2006)
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Reviews Counted:59
Fresh:13
Rotten:46
Average Rating:4.7/10
Consensus: Clumsily staged and brimming with melodrama and trite self-help cliches, this dance movie stays stuck at amateur level.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature situations and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Mar 31, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $182,515
Synopsis: MARILYN HOTCHKISS' BALLROOM DANCING AND CHARM SCHOOL begins with a fated meeting, as Frank (Robert Carlyle) pulls over to aid a car-crash victim, Steve (John Goodman), who is slowly dying by the... MARILYN HOTCHKISS' BALLROOM DANCING AND CHARM SCHOOL begins with a fated meeting, as Frank (Robert Carlyle) pulls over to aid a car-crash victim, Steve (John Goodman), who is slowly dying by the side of the road. Frank is still coming to terms with his wife's suicide, so when Steve spins him a story about the dance school of the title, he decides to attend classes himself. Steve informs Frank that he was in love with a girl named Lisa (Camryn Manheim), who danced at the school when he was a 12-year-old boy. Now, some 40 years later, Frank was on his way to the school to meet her again, hoping to rekindle their flame. Director Randall Miller (CLASS ACT) neatly divides the story into three parts, providing flashbacks to flesh out Steve's story, showing Frank's desperate attempts--along with a paramedic team--to keep Steve alive, and illustrating what happens when Frank makes his way to the school. As the story pings back and forth, Frank arrives at the school intending to tell Lisa what happened to Steve, but fails to find her. What Frank does find, however, is Meredith (Marisa Tomei), a woman he hopes will fill in the aching gap left by the death of his wife. As Frank slowly falls in love with Meredith while continuing his search for Lisa, the film gently arcs through some sentimental material that should appeal to viewers who enjoy a good tearjerker. [More]
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Donnie Wahlberg
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Donnie Wahlberg, David Paymer, Danny De Vito, John Goodman, Camryn Manheim, Jody Savin
Director: Randall Miller
Director: Randall Miller
Producer: Eilleen Craft, Morris Rushkin
Composer: Mark Adler
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
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Reviews for Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School
You've always suspected that going to dance class and charm school wouldn't be a lot of fun. Now a movie has come along that proclaims the truth: You were right all along.
For much of its length, Hotchkiss verges on archness: If it eventually wins us over, it's in large part thanks to the terrific cast Miller has assembled.
Not only are the shifts in time unclear, but the film lacks a stable emotional tone.
Beyond Wahlberg's deft moves, School's dancing is leaden, not charming, and the only challenge is enduring the film's lumbering progress until it finally clicks at the end.
What started out as a A Christmas Story-like film from a child's point of view somehow became a glum midlife tragedy that would do well between Oprah reruns on Lifetime.
Yet another ballroom dancing movie presents dance as a universal balm that heals life's problems in this mildly inspired dramatic comedy.
Wildly inconsistent in tone and point of view, torn between grim and sitcom-silly acting styles, slathered with a frosting of pop-psych self-help clichés, it's the film equivalent of the jarring car crash that sets the story in motion.
This is a wildly ill-conceived jumble, and not even its impressive cast can rescue it.
Yes, it's shamelessly sentimental, and fairly predictable, but it has a big heart and an even bigger cast.
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School juggles three separate time periods -- and is completely formulaic in each one.
With a few too many characters and plot fibers to track and about 100 minutes to do it, Miller goes for easy resolutions and leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
The sort of cloying, sentimental heart-tugger that would be more at home on network television than the big screen.
Shows how dancing becomes a route to personal transformation for a man mired in mourning.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
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