Delayed Reaction: Strictly Ballroom

The Pitch: There's this fun play about ballroom dancing. With the right director, this could work as a movie.

A gifted ballroom dancer tries to win the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix Dancing Championship using non-traditional steps and finds the perfect partner to help him do this.

Baz Luhrmann couldn't deny this movie if he tried. Not that he would. It's his first film, made it to the Cannes Film Festival, and set him up for his career. Despite it being so early in his career, a point when many directors are still trying to find their voice, this is easily identifiable as a Baz Luhrmann movie. It's colorful. It's lively. It's over the top. The only thing that's really changed between then and now is the level of actors Luhrmann gets and the ambition of the production. I can tell the budget for this wasn't great, and if you told me the whole cast was comprised of Luhrmann's friends from film school, I'd believe you. This movie works though, and it takes no leap of imagination to see how this led to Moulin Rouge! 8 years later.

The story is familiar, but it's a malleable premise. The lead is a renegade with unlimited potential. His dancing partner is a clumsy girl who is really quite beautiful when she loses her glasses*. Really, the plot is the same as about a dozen different Disney Channel Original movies.

*I don't remember if she actually does have glasses, but you get my point.

I like the use of a mocumentary style. It gives the movie some easy humor. I do wish I had more of a sense of if Lurhmann likes these characters or not. He's definitely having some fun with how seriously they take all this, but I had trouble deciphering between whether I was laughing at the people or laughing at the event. At some point, it feels a little mean. It's the same drawback I have with Christopher Guest's movies.

It's also clear that Lurhmann's budget hadn't caught up with her excitement. He shoots this movie like it's the most exciting thing ever. The dance scenes feel big and significant. The actual dancing...is fine. It's not otherworldly, which is Lurhamann's specialty these days. He isn't able to over saturate the frame with movement. This is still a director yearning for excess and not being able to give it. I know a lot of people actually like this the most of his movies for the same reasons. They like that it's more restrained and simple. That's not what I'm signing up for with a Baz Lurhmann movie though. Half the budge should go into the costumes and production design or else, what's the point?

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend