RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2006)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
22 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:59

Fresh:13

Rotten:46

Average Rating:4.7/10

Consensus: Clumsily staged and brimming with melodrama and trite self-help cliches, this dance movie stays stuck at amateur level.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for mature situations and language.

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:25-08-2006

Synopsis: MARILYN HOTCHKISS' BALLROOM DANCING AND CHARM SCHOOL begins with a fated meeting, as Frank (Robert Carlyle) pulls over to aid a car-crash victim, Steve (John Goodman), who is slowly dying by the... MARILYN HOTCHKISS' BALLROOM DANCING AND CHARM SCHOOL begins with a fated meeting, as Frank (Robert Carlyle) pulls over to aid a car-crash victim, Steve (John Goodman), who is slowly dying by the side of the road. Frank is still coming to terms with his wife's suicide, so when Steve spins him a story about the dance school of the title, he decides to attend classes himself. Steve informs Frank that he was in love with a girl named Lisa (Camryn Manheim), who danced at the school when he was a 12-year-old boy. Now, some 40 years later, Frank was on his way to the school to meet her again, hoping to rekindle their flame. Director Randall Miller (CLASS ACT) neatly divides the story into three parts, providing flashbacks to flesh out Steve's story, showing Frank's desperate attempts--along with a paramedic team--to keep Steve alive, and illustrating what happens when Frank makes his way to the school. As the story pings back and forth, Frank arrives at the school intending to tell Lisa what happened to Steve, but fails to find her. What Frank does find, however, is Meredith (Marisa Tomei), a woman he hopes will fill in the aching gap left by the death of his wife. As Frank slowly falls in love with Meredith while continuing his search for Lisa, the film gently arcs through some sentimental material that should appeal to viewers who enjoy a good tearjerker. [More]

Starring: Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Donnie Wahlberg

Starring: Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Donnie Wahlberg, David Paymer, Danny De Vito, John Goodman, Camryn Manheim, Jody Savin

Director: Randall Miller

Director: Randall Miller
Producer: Eilleen Craft, Morris Rushkin
Composer: Mark Adler
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • John Goodman Interview
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
08/26/06
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Strong performances and moving themes are drowned in a sea of sentimentality.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
08/26/06
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
08/25/06
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Yet another ballroom dancing movie presents dance as a universal balm that heals life's problems in this mildly inspired dramatic comedy.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/19/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Why would Frank drop everything to embark on this lunatic mission? Well, the answer is simple. If he didn't, there would be no movie - and perhaps that wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
07/19/08
Rossiter Drake
Rossiter Drake
San Francisco Examiner

A surprisingly-moving message movie about love and redemption filled with sentimental and transformational moments leading to tearjerker of a finale.

Full Review Source: Upstage Magazine | comment Comment
07/07/07
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
Upstage Magazine

A miscast hodgepodge of a genre stew.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
Doris Toumarkine
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International

Utterly charming.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
08/26/06
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews

That the film was itself borne out of risk invests its message with an honesty and an authenticity more than sufficient to offset its flaws.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
08/26/06
Wade Major
Wade Major
Boxoffice Magazine

I could believe almost nothing of this under-written, over-emoted saga.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
08/18/06
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

the entire movie is ridiculous

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
07/08/06
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

This is a wildly ill-conceived jumble, and not even its impressive cast can rescue it.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/03/06
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

... slight and slurry, like a champagne buzz.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
06/02/06
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

In this death-obsessed movie, the characters' lives flash before the audience's eyes - really, really slowly.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
05/05/06
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Clunky romantic comedy, which has the annoying habit of turning dead serious at exactly the wrong moment.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
05/05/06
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Miller has all but smothered the charm right out of his Charm School.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
04/28/06
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

Not content to tell two lousy, maudlin stories at once, the movie goes for a full three.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
04/27/06
Steve Schneider
Steve Schneider
Orlando Weekly

The movie is so bad it brings up a question %u2014 what's the opposite of a comeback film?

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
04/27/06
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

The picture trivializes the characters, hinting at depths it can't depict, aiming at a profundity of feeling it can't begin to reach.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
04/21/06
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

Beyond Wahlberg's deft moves, School's dancing is leaden, not charming, and the only challenge is enduring the film's lumbering progress until it finally clicks at the end.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
04/21/06
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia

Your first look at the swashbuckler.

Vampires

Vampires

We rank cinema's bloodsuckers.

Avatar

Avatar

The full trailer for Cameron's epic.

2012

2012

12 facts about Emmerich's disaster flick.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
2
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
9
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
106
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
  • Forbes Names Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actors Source: Forbes
20
  • Chris Weitz Says He's (Almost) Done with Directing Source: Film School Rejects
26
  • Spider-Man 4 Casting Rumors Multiply Like Rabbits Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
51
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
162
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
129
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Twilight's New Moon Dazzle?
97
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
53
  • Five Favorite Films with Werner Herzog
50
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
40
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
5
  • Ho, ho, ho! It's RT's Great Big Gift Guide!
0
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
5
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
8
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
18
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School at IGN
  • Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.