06/17/21 – R – 1h 47m – Picture Start Apple TV+

Alan: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✩

Michelle: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✩

Cha Cha Real Smooth is the story of recent college grad Andrew who has moved back home. He’s working at a Meat Stick food court restaurant and as a party starter at bar and bat mitzvahs while he interviews for other jobs. He meets a mom, Domino played by Dakota Johnson, and her autistic daughter Lola at the parties and starts a friendship with them after he gets Lola to dance at a party.

Michelle: The movie shows the friendships and connections people have throughout the community. A group of families keeps seeing each other at the bar and bat mitzvahs. There’s gossip about the slutty mom who sleeps around. There’s a bully who picks on all the kids as well as targets the autistic girl, Lola. 

Alan: I think it covers challenges in three phases of life: your teenage years, your twenties and your thirties. I could empathize with all of them. From the teenage boy who is trying to navigate his first romance, to the recent college grad who is trying to figure out his life, to the young thirty year old who knows what she wants and is trying to achieve it like an adult.

Michelle: The film also shows the varying relationships in the community. Andrew’s mom played by Leslie Mann had a manic episode so she doesn’t go to the first bar mitzvah. However the woman she thought she had offended during the episode asks Andrew about her. Seems like a community with close ties that cares for one another. But, when Andrew talks to a boy about bullying Lola, the autistic girl, the boy’s father attacks Andrew.

Alan: The bullying seemed realistic to me. It was stressful and created tension. The parent who defended their bullying child was all too familiar.

Michelle: Andrew and Domino develop something of a friendship in talks when he drives her home from a party and when he sits for Lola. But, Domino has a fiance who works in Chicago, so the relationship is an awkward employee-employer relationship not a romance. But, they have a connection. And, Domino has trouble with boundaries and tries to kiss Andrew. The complications get resolved when Domino tells him that she is getting married. 

Alan: It was an uplifting movie. Andrew was such an interesting character. His outlook on life reminded me a bit of Ted Lasso. Domino was complex and her behavior was often confusing to me, but I think that was an intentional choice and things made sense at the end. I give it four stars. 

Michelle: Cha Cha Real Smooth was a charming portrait of a few months in Andrew’s life. It touches on themes of friendship, mental health, community, and standing up to bullying. Four  stars.