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Movies / On DVD / Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School

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Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2006)

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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

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Reviews for Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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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]
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

Yes, it's shamelessly sentimental, and fairly predictable, but it has a big heart and an even bigger cast.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
04/08/06
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

Utterly charming.

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

Shows how dancing becomes a route to personal transformation for a man mired in mourning.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
03/24/06
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Predictable and decidedly old-fashioned in its sensibility, the film is likely to win over audiences if not critics.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/08/06
James Greenberg
James Greenberg
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

While it's at times too melodramatic and formulaic to be entirely successful, it still holds some appeal; its very amateurishness is what makes it charming.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
04/07/06
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

... 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

The point of the film is that anything is possible when you open your heart to new experiences. Simplistic, for sure. Simple-minded, maybe. But the feel-good pleasures in a movie with this much positive thinking are undeniable.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
03/29/06
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer

Forgive the occasional forays into schmaltz-land as Marilyn Hotchkiss shows us how to dance, and love, in spite of it all.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
04/03/06
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

Marilyn Hotchkiss demonstrates that the same old construct can be made thrillingly fresh with the right components.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/30/06
Sarah Kaufman
Sarah Kaufman
Washington Post

As absorbingly weird and dark and sad as the film becomes, it still labors against jumpy construction, an irritating variety of visual styles and film stocks, and a crowded story.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
04/06/06
Tasha Robinson
Tasha Robinson
AV Club

Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School may stumble at times, but at least it gets out on the dance floor and has a good time.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
04/07/06
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

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

You've always suspected that going to dance class and charm school wouldn't be a lot of fun. Now a movie has come along that proclaims the truth: You were right all along.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
03/31/06
E! Online

For much of its length, Hotchkiss verges on archness: If it eventually wins us over, it's in large part thanks to the terrific cast Miller has assembled.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
03/31/06
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Not only are the shifts in time unclear, but the film lacks a stable emotional tone.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
04/06/06
Bill White
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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
 
 
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