Though it's fun to see Carlyle play something other than a bad guy, and all the actors here are working hard, it's a lost cause. Miss this one.
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2006)
Tomatometer
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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
This well-intentioned film about loss, grief and new beginnings gets bogged down in syrupy cliches and blunt self-help dialogue.
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dance & Charm School is like a first date who shows up at the door with flowers, candy, a blood test and a U-Haul. It's trying much too hard.
For a movie centered on a class where students learn poise and grace, Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School is woefully clumsy.
If you think the title is endless, wait till you see Goodman's death scene.
Charming? Hardly. With its woefully forlorn leading man, phony learning-to-live-again love story and not nearly enough dancing, this is one class you can afford to skip.
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.
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.
Marilyn Hotchkiss demonstrates that the same old construct can be made thrillingly fresh with the right components.
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School is a soggy, endless wallow in nostalgia and the healing power of very bad dancing.
The point of the film is that anything is possible when you open your heart to new experiences. Simplistic, for sure. Simple-minded, maybe. But the feel-good pleasures in a movie with this much positive thinking are undeniable.
This flat-footed male weepie musters an insurance ad's worth of clichés about the importance of busting a move in middle age -- and it strains so hard to do so that it's almost perversely compelling.
Shows how dancing becomes a route to personal transformation for a man mired in mourning.
Watchable enough, but many insufferable scenes particularly any with the presence of John Goodman and with the school's founding director.
Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School juggles three separate time periods -- and is completely formulaic in each one.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 78% 78% | 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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