Sundance 2022 Film Review – Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)

The 20s. No, not the decade, the time of our lives. We’ve just wrestled with puberty and the metamorphosis that transpires, as well as acne, school, exams, plus first loves (or, at least, what we think are first loves) that we believe, are all-consuming and will definitely be happy ever after and now, it’s time for the real stuff. Self-doubt, feeling lost and apathetic, overwhelmed by adulthood and all its facets – for this intrepid writer, it was a tough old time and stories provoke reminiscing and pondering aplenty so Cooper Raiff’s delightful new dramedy was just up his street, as it will be for many of you. Break out your Lipps Inc/Funky Town records and let’s get smooth.

Fresh out of college — but now what? Higher education failed to provide 22-year-old Andrew (Raiff) with a clear life path going forward, so he’s stuck back at home with his family in New Jersey. But if college did teach him one thing, it’s drinking and partying — skills that make him the perfect candidate for a job party-starting at the bar and bat mitzvahs of his younger brother’s classmates. When Andrew befriends a local mom, Domino (Dakota Johnson), and her daughter, Lola (Vanessa Burghardt), he finally discovers a future he wants, even if it might not be his own.

There’s an almost immediate comfort that washes over you when Cha Cha Real Smooth begins as if you’ve been transported somewhere familiar, somewhere safe whether it’s through its characters, setting, or choice of musical accompaniment that pulsates through the seemingly endless conveyor belt of bar and bat mitzvahs that flood the summer season of the film. Trust us, everyone’s dancing is on point. But through this inviting, bright landscape, Raiff is able to explore the characters with poise and intelligence that feels fresh, despite its obvious similarities to a few films of Sundance gone past which linger in the ether. and that’s very so slightly to its detriment. But it’s that freshness, that unique and perceptive exploration that helps the film sing and soar like a glistening kite in the wind.

Its wind, then, is its brilliant ensemble who is as infectious and joyous as the film itself. You’d have hoped Raiff would be good given it’s his baby but such ownership could have been his downfall, yet as Andrew, he lights up every scene (and he’s in most of it) with his warmth and sarcasm which plays gangbusters opposite all of his cast, not least Johnson and newcomer Vanessa Burghardt, the latter of whom is sensational as Lola. As for Johnson, she continues her wonderful run of form of late, here both as star and producer, bringing complexity and mystery to Domino alongside her lighter moments. She and Jamie Dornan have been painted as the “Stewart and Pattinson” of the last decade given their 50 Shades association, but like those two soaring talents, both have shaken off such ghosts to become two of recent cinema’s most intriguing performers and this may be Johnson’s best yet. Film ain’t bad, either.

★★★★

Comedy, Drama | Cert TBC | Sundance Film Festival | Dir: Cooper Raiff | Dakota Johnson, Cooper Raiff, Brad Garrett, Odeya Rush, Raul Castillo, Vanessa Burghardt, and Leslie Mann