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Movies / On DVD / Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School

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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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Release:

Jul 4, 2006

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Reviews for Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School

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Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
01/17/06
Sydney Morning Herald

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.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
03/31/06
E! Online

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.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
03/31/06
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Not only are the shifts in time unclear, but the film lacks a stable emotional tone.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
04/06/06
Bill White
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
04/21/06
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
04/06/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

the entire movie is ridiculous

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
07/08/06
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Yet another ballroom dancing movie presents dance as a universal balm that heals life's problems in this mildly inspired dramatic comedy.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/19/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

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.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
04/06/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

This is a wildly ill-conceived jumble, and not even its impressive cast can rescue it.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/03/06
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
08/25/06
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Yes, it's shamelessly sentimental, and fairly predictable, but it has a big heart and an even bigger cast.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
04/08/06
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

Utterly charming.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
08/26/06
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School juggles three separate time periods -- and is completely formulaic in each one.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/06/05
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A miscast hodgepodge of a genre stew.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
Doris Toumarkine
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International

Suggest the first rom-com directed by Alejandro González Iñarritu.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
03/21/06
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

Long on good intentions but short on believability.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
12/06/05
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

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.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
03/31/06
Evan Henerson
Evan Henerson
Los Angeles Daily News

The sort of cloying, sentimental heart-tugger that would be more at home on network television than the big screen.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
04/21/06
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Shows how dancing becomes a route to personal transformation for a man mired in mourning.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
03/24/06
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
 
 
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