Hi Guys
Welcome to my latest Dr Film review. Today I will reviewing 'Cuban Fury' the newest film to the line of fun dance comedies. Obviously you got your Strictly Ballroom and your Dirty Dancing which are both great examples of dancing films achieved really well. But I think Cuban Fury is something different to the line, its not like anything id seen previously, it's not too predictable and it's not so in your face.
So, what's to say about this film? I was quite impressed with the end product, after being convinced and drawn in by all the advertising from things such as posters and film clips and seeing Nick Frost talk about it in interviews I was very interested in going to see this film, providing that it wasn't a total flop and utter disappointment.
The film is directed by James Griffiths who some of you may know has directed things such as : Episodes, Up All Night and The Royal Wedding. And comes onto this to direct and co-ordinate the script.
Now the script, and the story is by Jon Brown nominally, but I think it was Nick Frost that came up with the backdrop of all the characters, and came up with the storyline and all the development behind what eventually became the finished script. So it was written in a sense by Jon Brown as he wrote all the dialogue and action, but from the basic workings of the work of Nick Frost. So the two were a bit hand in hand as it were.
So already you got a television director coming on to do a full on film, and a writer who is basing his work of the work of someone else that has been spoon fed to him by the leading cast member. Nick Frost himself, shows a lot of artistry and passion in this project which in every sense of the words brings everyone through it. It has been brought to my knowledge that Nick Frost actually has been wanting to do a film like this for sometime, so why it has taken him so long, I don't really know. It seems that this project has been delayed to us somehow.
Anyway here's a clip.
So let's cut to the chase here, The characters. Nick Frost plays a character who I think is really likable, charming, funny, kind hearted character with a passion for dancing. He also is a man who has very good eye for physical comedy. There's a scene right at the beginning of the film where he's eating youghurt and he does in such a way that is hilarious, there is very few ways you make eating youghurt funny.
Olivia Coleman plays his sister, who works at a cocktail bar and is very encouraging and happy character who gives off good tips and advice in helping Bruce achieve well in wowing Julia. She herself is very funny in the film and brings her own light to her role, makes it her own and is very much in control the whole time she's doing it.
Then you got Julia, the girl played by Rashida Jones and it is her that give Bruce his confidence back. She's the new boss that comes in on the scene and really wows Bruce over, and he establishes a thing for her, and then he discovers that Julia is a salsa dancer which then makes Bruce want to get back into salsa dancing as a means to try and impress her.
The Dance mentor and Bruce's teacher is played by Ian McShane who is a really grumpy and rude, abrasive character. But you sort of like him in a way because its Bruce that says 'I found my old dance teacher who is a really horrible human being' and you laugh at that, and take the joke as a personality reference. I think Ian McShane does a very good job at playing the dance teacher.
Lastly we have Chris O Dowd, who in every sense of the word is a jerk. You just want to smack him round the face repeatedly. He's not a very nice character, everything Bruce tries to do, he sets out to do it better than him, and embarice him in every given opportunity. He doesn't want Bruce to succeed in having Julia because he wants Julia for himself. Don't get me wrong, I really like Chris O Dowd, but I hated his character in this film.
The problems I had with Cuban Fury, were the fact that I just thought that script let it down a bit. It wasn't awful. I just felt there was something missing, and the script isn't as good as it needs to be, the directing I think is rather flat and rather televisual standards and what you get is a kind of selection of individual bits many of which are individually funny.
But as a whole movie, it doesn't hang together quite so well as I thought it would. Its a very fun film, I won't deney that I had fun watching it, it was great to just go with the flow and enjoy for what it was. But its a weird feeling because when it finished, I was quite disappointed by how much I hadn't laughed. And I want to like it more partly because of the fact I really like Nick Frost and he put so much effort into making this film a reality, it sort of seems disrespectful as a fan of him and his work to sort of go 'oh you know that work you spent all that time doing Cuban Fury?, It wasn't as good as I thought it would be.'
This film, certainly has the workings of a good story. The concepts there, but presented in a badly executed way. But you know at the end of the day, it's not Nick Frosts fault. I think this film just demonstrates just how difficult it is to get comic timing right, not in terms of performance, but by direction and script writing.
Overall, It's very good for what it is, but its not an amazing film. 5/10.
Thank you for reading this review guys.
I hope you enjoyed reading it.
I'm taking a break now. I will be back on the 1st of April with my review of Non Stop.
Take care everyone, and don't forget to Subscribe.
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