Cha Cha Real Smooth: The indie hit is too shallow and naive

Cha Cha is so smooth Try very hard to be sincere. Writer-director-actor Cooper Raiff’s second film (after 2020 Shithouse) is a coming-of-age story that doesn’t have any superficial villains and doesn’t judge any of its characters. Its protagonist, Andrew (Raiff), resembles Benjamin Braddock in Postgraduate: He just graduated from college with very little idea of ​​what to do with his life. During the last summer before he firmly enters adulthood, he has to grow up if he wants to find love.

This is a story written and directed by a 23 year old man. That fact determines Cha Cha is so smoothits truest virtue (happy innocence) and its greatest flaw – a puzzling lack of awareness of reality. It’s a movie defined by its mystical, narrow bandwidth.

Shithouse is a college comedy about a lonely freshman trying to connect with people. With Cha Cha is so smooth, Raiff moves the timeline forward a few years to navigate a familiar kind of post-college unrest. Andrew moves in with his doting mother (Leslie Mann) and his henchman stepfather, Greg (Brad Garrett). He spends his days working at a fast food joint called Meat Sticks, and the nights he sleeps on the bedroom floor of his adorable little brother, David (Evan Assante). Andrew has always had terrible luck with women, especially older, more mature women. An early, captivating scene sees a thirteen-year-old Andrew approach a woman behind a bar. She politely let him down. A decade later, his college sweetheart has left him and gone to Europe, and Andrew is devastated, not knowing whether to pursue her or move on.

Photo: Apple TV Plus

After some local New Jersey moms noticed Andrew’s bacchanalian talent, he became the party starter for bar and bat mitzvahs. The nominal settings provide a compelling frame for Andrew’s growing up, and expose him to the enchanting Domino (Dakota Johnson) and his autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). Andrew considers himself a white knight, and he quickly blends into Domino’s world as a savior. But life is not so simple, a lesson the film hopes to teach Andrew. But Raiff felt ill-equipped to bring that message within the confines of this story’s intelligibility.

In a tighter drama, Andrew will be the villain, pursuing Domino even though he knows she’s engaged to Joseph (Raúl Castillo). But Joseph is always traveling, and he doesn’t seem like a nice guy; he is cold, jealous and often looks down on Domino. Andrew also knows Domino is battling depression, and in some ways he believes they can overcome each other’s apparent loneliness. He becomes a brother figure of Lola, and uses stick and bat mitzvahs as the backdrop to see Domino.

Raiff brusquely tries to cross the line between genuine concern and selfishness, but only the latter feel emerges. Raiff doesn’t play Andrew with an evil bone in his body; His awkward self-introduction in Domino’s life was the mistake of a foolish child who didn’t know any better. But it’s a big pill to swallow, at least for viewers skeptical enough to question how Raiff justified his character’s behavior.

It doesn’t help that Raiff isn’t a particularly charming lead. He lacks the scope to instill a messy character like Andrew with enough depth to rise above the saccharine line. The late-night conversations that Andrew and Domino share, where they reveal their inner fears and display gentle intimacy, don’t quite capture the sensual danger inherent in these scenes. mainly because Raiff has only one expression: surprise. In heavier scenes, his character doesn’t sound like the real thing.

Usually, in Raiff’s script, emotion is the aesthetic thing. Aside from Domino’s, the characters say exactly what’s on their mind. Topics like bullying and mental health are all stressful, but while Raiff does show interest in these ideas, they mostly just make it into the movie as checkboxes. Raiff doesn’t really care for Domino’s persona, so viewers don’t know anything specific about her marriage. There is a selfishness in his gaze, and will create complicated interpretations of him. But Raiff loves Andrew too much to see through his uglier side.

Photo: Apple TV Plus

Raiff’s story is clunky – the 107-minute, 15-minute movie could certainly be cut easily – but it does have some appeal. Burghardt gives Lola a rich inner life, Assante is a revealing glutton that is adorable to the point of endearment, and the stern Garrett never misses. But none of these, despite the actors’ best efforts, felt like a real person, at least Domino’s, who had more of a vibe. No one reacts as you expect. When Joseph finally confronts Andrew, the emotional rift fueled by this film leads to a muted flare-up. It’s another example of Raiff liking Andrew too much to fully interrogate his transgression. Instead, he switches to a couple of false endings that make his character sympathetic but misguided.

It’s clear why so many reviewers have found Cha Cha is so smooth Dear: It’s comfortable cinema. There are no sharp judgments, no penetrating interrogations below the surface. Its basic truths wrap around the viewer like a warm blanket, reminding them of how cold the world can be and how warm it can be to better people. But Andrew is not the better one. And the fact that the film doesn’t want to completely grapple with that reality brings Cha Cha is so smooth stop grinding.

Cha Cha is so smooth premieres in limited theatrical release and on Apple TV Plus on June 17.