User reviews

I'm ripping off another reviewer's title for "Lisbon Story" (the original "good for the soul" movie), but I can't think of a better description for "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School."

I won't even get into the plot except to say that it's at times surprisingly dark, surprisingly uplifting, surprisingly tense, and just overall surprising. It deals with themes of devastating loss, rediscovery, pain, anger, violence, and confusion but in a way that gets your toes tapping to the Lindy Hop. Watch the movie, and that'll make sense.

If you've gotten past the supercilious title, which doubtlessly scares off anyone in the mood for Saw VIII, and you've gotten as far as the 3rd paragraph of this review which includes supercilious words like "supercilious", then I think you'll get it. This is a movie which explores the veneer of charm which we often use to cloak a deeper ugliness in our lives. But it doesn't do it sarcastically; it actually points out how an occasional ballroom dance may, occasionally, be the cure for the horrors that we experience.

It's no surprise that the filmmakers managed to snare an all star cast, because this is the kind of movie that actors (who aren't solely obsessed with money) would eagerly jump into. Award winning talent like John Goodman, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, and some of my personal favorites like Ernie Hudson (The Crow, Ghostbusters) and Donnie Wahlberg (the aforementioned Saw movies) as well as a cameo by Danny Devito really bring this story to life. And of course there's the main character played by Robert Carlyle, an actor whom I'm not familiar with but I'll forever remember his performance here.

As for the dancing itself, no, it's not really a showcase of fancy footwork (for that, you should check out the awesome Aussie flick "Strictly Ballroom") although Donnie Wahlberg does some impressive moves as the hilarious cheeseball Baryshnikov wannabee who needs to button his shirt back above his navel. This is really a human story with elements of romcom, elements of tragedy, elements of suspense, and regardless of how it turns out "good for the soul."

I saw this movie at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. It truly was a wonderful package. All parts come together. After the film, the audience gave it a standing applause. It was a hit with the audience, including myself. I would see it again. Robert Carlyle was very good as the sympathetic baker, consumed by his wife's death, and inadvertently drawn into an emergency situation. The director/writer incorporates his older film of a boy's experience of being forced to go to dance and charm school, melding it perfectly with the now adult man's perception played by John Goodman. Others in the film were Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Donnie Wahlber, and Sean Astin, all giving a wonderful performance.

It took a while before i felt involved with the film and the characters. However, once more characters started joining the dance class i started to look forward to every scene in the ballroom. Robert Carlyle was obviously the lead role but Mary Steenburgen was fabulous. She was funny but serious and assertive, and her wardrobe throughout the movie evolved along with her character. A nice, subtle touch. As was the gentleman who starts and stops the music for her during the film, i think his name was Freeway? I started looking forward to every time he hit play on that tiny boom box and hearing the music boom through the theater sound. Overall i really enjoyed the film even though it started a little slow.

Watched this on Amazon prime. A movie about love, loss, promises and a bit of dancing. A fantastic cast led by Robert Carlyle and Marisa Tomei and a great script, this is a wonderful little movie, both happy and sad. A big thumbs up from me.

I discovered this DVD movie a few years ago at - of all places - Dollar General - for $1.

You know - in the yellow cardboard envelope-thing . . . We all know this is where many low rated movies go to live out their last days . . .but I googled and saw the great cast - so I thought - if this sucks, well, I'd only be out a buck.

But I thought it was great, and I watch it about once a year. I don't mind a story using the flashback/memory gimmick if something is used to make it clear - in this case a memory was always preceded by Goodman's character talking & going into his memory via sort of bluish posterized scenes.

I've always liked Goodman - but I felt he was rather miscast here - however, he did a great job acting like a person severely injured.

I saw a lot of low reviews about Steenbergens dancing was not good enough as a teacher.

My take was that she followed in her mother's tradition perhaps reluctantly - there was something different she wanted to do with the school but was psychologically/emotionally somehow compelled against her own will to unhappily follow tradition, therefore Steenberhen was portraying someone not fully committed to their job. Also - I think she portrayed being bored with most of her students as many of them were sort of social or awkward outcast types, except for a couple of students who were on the other extreme - gung-ho-dramatic. So it ended up being sort of humorous that any social grace and self perceived class & style she brought was easily better than anyone else. She was a showman.

I can understand the lucid reasons why some people hate this movie - but I found the story compelling - as Goodmans character tells his whole backstory, and how it ultimately causes all these people to come together - and a lot of nuances in the acting, like I described about Steenbergen's character, as well as in showing how various stages of grief affect men (trivia outlines how all 7 stages were portrayed by the grief group).

Carlisle is fascinating to watch too, and I also liked the humor, and the happy-humorous scene of the grief group joining the dance school.

I found this movie overall to be entertaining - and I think most people who hated it basically just take their entertainment a little too seriously . . .

I caught this film at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck Michigan. Directed by Randall Miller and a star filled cast, this film was the best of the festival, and may be one of my favorites of the year. The film begins with baker Robert Carlyle driving down a deserted highway. He comes upon a stranger in a car wreck, played by John Goodman, and the two talk with each other, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Goodman tells Carlyle of his planned reunion with his childhood love at the place mentioned in the title.

This beautiful film is wonderfully acted, with such stars as Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Sean Astin, Donnie Wahlberg, David Paymer, and Ernie Hudson. I loved the story, I didn't realize you could do so much with such a simple outline. I loved the structure of the film, the way it was edited and shot. There were some very funny moments, very touching moments, and overall it's just a great experience. Some of the filmmakers showed up for the festival and had some great stories to tell. The movie was originally made 15 years ago as a short film of the same title, and a lot of the scenes from the short film are used in the feature as flashback scenes (I knew I saw Donkeylips from Salute Your Shorts).

I think with such an all-star cast and such a good story, this film will at least get release in major cities. So if you get the chance, check this movie out.

Diverse cast, light entertainment . This is a featherweight movie though it has done heavy subjects such as suicide, grief, loss, violence but is entertaining. It's also pretty forgettable, except For Donnie Wahlberg who is hilarious as Randall Ipswich. He absolutely steals every scene he's in. Effortlessly as a pompous dancer he is hilarious and a really good dancer. Kudos Donnie I loved you in this role and think you need to do comedy.

The film's use of two voices relaying three narrative threads, artfully woven without confusion while maintaining audience interest and focus, could be used as a textbook for compound story structure. If the story hadn't been expanded from a short film thereby requiring this approach, I'd be heaping superlative praise on its inventiveness as well.

Entertaining, well-cast with excellent performances by its ensemble of seasoned character actors, and just quirky enough to offset its sometimes saccharin character, I think this will grow a deserved following when it airs on cable. A solid illustration of the possibility of 'charm' in contemporary cinema, it presented little violence beyond its illustration of an automobile accident site and the language of adolescent boys, and managed a passionate but never prurient love scene under cover of a liberal dusting of flour.

Enchanting!

This movie was savaged by every critic on earth, which pretty much confirmed my opinion that critics are all stupid. Yeah, it was kinda' sappy, but I thought it worked for the film. Contrary to many reviews, I thought John Goodman's performance was excellent. The ensemble cast carried the movie well. It wasn't "Becket", but it was totally watchable. You have to pay pretty close attention. They don't whack you over the head with exposition the way some films do. The one thing I will say is that there are a few plot and character elements that just seem to be thrown in there for no apparent reason. If you can get past that, the movie makes it's points well and clearly, if not completely originally.

I just had to write a comment. I can't believe how many people found this movie poignant and charming and touching. I hoped I would. I did not.

I was surprised to find this movie at my local cineplex. The reviews in the paper weren't very good, but the ad was intriguing. The title is awkwardly long, I hoped the movie was not. There was only room enough on the box office sign to put the words "Marilyn Hotchkiss", and there were at least 2 couples in line were confused about what "ballroom" movie it was they were there to see. I suspect there will be some audiences who really wanted to see the Antonio Banderas movie (Take The Lead) instead. I haven't seen that one yet, but it looks like a better bet.

The movie is obviously low budget, and the fact that they nabbed so many name actors to appear in it is both appealing and distracting. It's almost like the result of some contest for "who can get the most name actors in their low-budget movie?". Perhaps they were following the trend set by last year's winner of that contest, "Crash". Most of these name actors in "Marilyn Hotchkiss..." have very little to do, and some of them are surprisingly awful. There are exceptions. Robert Carlyle, in the lead, is quite good, though at times it seems he can't quite decide whether or not to use his native Scottish accent. His character is a baker whose family has owned a bakery in Pasadena, California "since 1903", so it would be logical that at least he and his father before him were born and grew up in the United States. Still, Carlyle is otherwise very genuine and is the backbone of this movie. Donnie Wahlberg is also a welcome stand-out in his role as one of the patrons of the Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. Marisa Tomei gives a nice performance, as do several of the other "name actors" who have minor roles, including David Paymer, Adam Arkin, and Ernie Hudson (as members of Carlyle's widower's support group) and Sonia Braga (who is one of the ladies at the dance class). Mary Steenburgen, as the leader of the dance class, gives an interesting performance. I'm not usually a fan of her work. I don't always believe what she says -- she always seems to be "acting". But in this case her theatrical style is very appropriate and suits her and the role. Sean Astin, of whom I am a fan, doesn't fare as well. Had this been the first film I'd ever seen him in, I'd have thought, "That is just not a very good actor".

Others on the minus side are Camryn Manheim, who stops in to give a one-scene one-note performance -- and it's not a note you'd want to hear over and over again. At least her scene is short. Which leads me to another one-note performance that seems endless -- The winner of the Lousiest Acting in an Independent Feature Award goes to John Goodman. I have even greater respect for Robert Carlyle's talent in coming up with such an honest performance while having to act with Goodman, who is so unbelievable and phony. Danny DeVito appears briefly in one scene, as if to fulfill the star quota. Among the several non-name actors that are spattered throughout the film, there is one that was conspicuous, the only actor I didn't recognize in Carlyle's widower's support group, a sad-sack faced actor named David St. James, whose every appearance involves him crying. Though I imagine it's intended to be comedic, it is so over-the-top, reminiscent of Stan Laurel or the Cowardly Lion, he seems to have been stuck in the wrong movie.

The writing is all over the place, some good, some bad, some preposterous. I won't include a spoiler, but there's a scene in the bakery that would not only violate health code standards, but have you seriously consider that low-carb diet.

I can't say the directing is all bad. Though he wasn't able to get good performances out of all of the actors, director Randall Miller has managed to come up with some nice imagery. His skill at photographing dance isn't always great, but I did like one particularly memorable shot panning across the feet of the ladies waiting in line to dance. He's chosen two different cinematography styles to denote flashback. The scenes from the original short (made 15 years ago), of the young kids in dancing class, are given an overly grainy look. (Or maybe that was what the entire short originally looked like). The John Goodman scenes, flashing back to the car accident, are all in that over-exposed, washed-out look that has become popular in many films. The first time I saw that look in a movie, I thought it looked like bad photography, like the filmmakers didn't have the money to do it properly so the footage would look "good". I thought it looked cheap. But now that I've seen it in major studio films, like "Munich", I recognize that it isn't cheap, it's a choice. It's simply a choice that doesn't appeal to me. It makes those scenes look even more strident than John Goodman's acting. In "Marilyn Hotchkiss...", the many different styles make it look like an exercise in Photoshop Filters.

I really wanted to like this movie. Instead, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief through much of it.

This movie got it right where a bunch of other movies have gotten it totally wrong. Most movies about grieving and loss gloss over what it really feels like to lose someone, but Hotchkiss' really makes you feel how alone Frank is after losing his wife before you see him begin to learn how to let go and move on. The cast in this movie (John Goodman, Danny Devito, Marisa Tomei, Donnie Wahlberg, Sean Astin) is stronger than most big budget Hollywood movies (Robert Carlyle is really amazing here!) but this isn't an 'indie' film with boring camera shots and amateurish productions, it's very stylishly shot and incredibly well-done all around. Best of both worlds.

Despite all of the improbable plot twists, and gaping unexplained errors (why would a 3rd generation California baker have a Northern England accent?) and distractingly horrible haircuts, I found this film very appealing. Many of these quaint, quirky and sweet people could only exist in a fictitious movie world, but when you see them try to learn to dance, all is forgiven. After seeing a slew of dance movies lately, it's refreshing to see someone genuinely clumsy on a dance floor, and actually NOT learn all the steps the first class! The diverse cast creates a story and world worth spending time in, and life lessons worth watching.

"Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School" is a slow paced, but sweetly charming and amusing film.

It is like a "Mad Hot Ballroom" for grown-ups, crossed with the period feel of "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" and some of the nostalgia wallowing of "Mrs. Henderson Presents".

Extended from a 1990 short film by co-writer/director Randall Miller, much is made that it takes place in 2005 but each of the three periods that are stories within stories has a different cinematographic tint, blue for the opening situation, yellow for 1962 (that are actually from the original film) and color for moving forward.

But the small matinée audience responded with warm chuckles to the humor and poignancy, especially for the flashbacks to twelve year olds that wonderfully captures boys and girls. (Recreating boys' junior war games was particularly effective).

While these are all non-dancing actors, with, unusually, no ringers in sight, the choreography is pretty lame and there's very little real dance step learning that goes on, and I don't even watch "Dancing with the Stars" though this should appeal to those fans. But this is not about the serious amateurs like in "Roseland". This much more about human behavior than dance steps as the Misses Hotchkiss seem to accidentally work a lot like "Nanny McPhee".

The large ensemble of recognizable actors is enjoying mostly playing against type, such as Robert Carlyle as an almost monosyllabic baker (like Nicholas Cage in "Moonstruck") compared to his usual motor mouth, even as the script manages to finesse his accent; Marisa Tomei as a shy wallflower (there's a leg here at issue rather than the arm in "Moonstruck"); Mary Steenburgen as a robotic emcee; Camryn Manheim in a vivid cameo; Donnie Wahlberg as an ineffectual Lord of the Dance (with a joke that "he's not even Irish" as several others also play against their usual ethnics). Some of the characters, though, are a bit one-note, such as an exaggeratedly lascivious Sonia Braga and a weepy widower. John Goodman does have the longest wounded monologue scene outside most opera and Shakespeare, but that happens frequently on "E.R." as well.

The now grown-up kid from the original film has a small role as Carlyle's co-worker, and it's not far-fetched that we could be seeing that in his imagination.

The opening rendition of "Over the Rainbow" (I couldn't catch if it was by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole or covered in his style) has been way over-used in too many films, but the arrangements of dance music and the musical period selections are fresh.

While the outline of the film is predictable, as each person faces their grief, guilt or other family issues and brightens through dancing and human contact, it is overall a lovely and heart warming film.

Frank (Robert Carlyle) is a widowed baker, trying to recover from his wife's sudden death. As he is driving the highway, one day, he comes across a serious auto accident involving a single driver, Steve (John Goodman). Told to keep the man conscious through conversation, Frank learns that Steve was on his way to a dance class appointment he made, 40 years ago, with a young girl he had a crush on! He begs Frank, when he can, to go to the Marilyn Hotchkiss Dance and Charm School, find Lisa and tell her why he couldn't make it. Frank does so, reluctantly, much to the surprise of his widowers support group. Once at the school, however, now operated by Marilyn's daughter, Mary Ann (Mary Steenburgen), and featuring a beautiful lady, Meredith (Marisa Tomei), Frank is intrigued. Failing to find Lisa, the baker, nevertheless, goes back the following week, even though Meredith's troubled stepbrother (Donnie Wahlberg) warns him to keep away from his sister. Before long, Frank and all of the widowers are learning to "live again" with the healing power of ballroom dance. But, will Steve remain alive and will Lisa ever be found? This lovely film is easy to recommend to fans of romantic drama and, indeed, all those who admire quality film-making. The story is wonderful, after a slow opening, with some memorable lines and situations. Also, the setting is fantastic, an old but beautiful ballroom, with Mary Ann parting the stage curtains at each class' beginning and following a pattern of etiquette that recalls a different era. As for the cast, Carlyle, Steenburgen, the always lovely Tomei, Goodman, Sean Astin, Paymer, and especially Wahlberg, are made-to-order great. Naturally, the costumes, photography and inventive direction are also strong assets. Want to put a spring in your step and smile on your face? Dance out the door and secure a view soon.

A beautiful piece of cinema, soft and gentle view of loss.

I loved the movie. I hope you get a chance to see it and it comes to your area. Its a great life story. John Goodman plays a man who is trying to return to his childhood girlfriend. Robert Carlyle finds him in his hour of need, and agrees to meet the childhood girlfriend for him

Robert Carlyle and Marisa Tomei are so wonderful together. The story of their meeting and falling and love is very romantic.

Mary Steenburgen is outstanding in her role as the dance instructor.

And Donnie Wahlberg steals the movie with his character.

Its a movie filled with outstanding actors. And a very touching and moving story. With great childhood stories.

It took a while for me to get a copy of the DVD but viewed Marilyn Hotchkiss today and I feel it has the possibilities of a Classic but felt it was over saturated with unrelated scenes, name actors, i.e. John Goodman, and Marisa Tomei and an unbelievably cheesy accident scene which distracted me from concentrating on the marvelous portrayals by Robert Carlyle, Sonja Braga, Elden Henson and Donnie Wahlberg. I felt there were much too many flashbacks of the nostalgia of childhood , which I found boring and superfluous and the bereavement/ therapy scenes were just included to add weight to the project, could have worked but none of the testimonials convinced me one iota of these men actually grieving. It make me wonder if it's the American Male or all Males who have trouble expressing grief and heartbreak without trepidation.

Pity, I waited 06 months to view this film because the synopsis, which sounded appealing and has universal appeal, however, It's like the old proverb, "When too much cargo is placed in craft, all sinks to the bottom."

A great cast is a terrible thing to waste. Wanted this to be a charming story but it never gets traction. This is a miss.

Though certainly not about a new and unique topic in entertainment, this film presents a multi-dimensional perspective about experiences that we all, as human beings, can relate.

The films unique approach, and the actors sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic execution causes a myriad of emotions to surface during the development of the plot. The audience laughs, cries, and I was personally touched by both the plot transitions and the elegant development of the characters and story line throughout the film.

The film provoked reflection in the audience by asking questions and allowing this moviegoer to connect many life experiences to the film. So many movies today are developed for entertainment purposes only, usually either through special effects or dark, dismal shock factor. This film differentiated itself by not wrapping everything up in a pretty little package, leaving room for discussion and interpretation. And Mary Steenburgen's performance was easily one of the best I've seen at the entire film festival.

I heard for a few years about MARILYN HOTCHKISS' BALLROOM DANCING & CHARM SCHOOL because of the cast full of actors of which I saw some movies and also because being on YouTube, I assumed it was rather obscure. When I saw it last August I found decent overall, and it starts to become good after the first 30 minutes.

It begins with Frank Keane (Robert Carlyle) that is driving with his girlfriend in a mountain road and calls his friend Kip Kipling (Sean Astin) but has to interrupt the call because he sees Steve Mills (John Goodman) that had an accident with his car. While Steve waits for the ambulance and also when he is taken, Frank offers to go with him and tell Steve his story and about when he used to go to the Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom school for finding the love of his life, while Kip was trying to steal it from him. And all this discussion unfolds in a journey about redemption and grief.

The plot, while simple, was enjoyable and I liked more the parts with Goodman than the ones set in the ballroom school because the stories they told each other were nice. And the music was ok too.

Not a life-changing movie but still something original and watchable if you don't want to think too much.