- A widowed man's life turns upside down when he embarks on a journey to find a dying man's long lost love.
- Dance is a very powerful drug, if embraced judiciously; to reap its rewards, one must shoulder its challenges with intrepid countenance. Frank Keene, a grieving baker in a near catatonic state, happens on a car accident. The loquacious and insightful victim, Steve Mills, is on his way to an appointment in Pasadena with a years-ago acquaintance; he asks Frank to go in his place. It's a dance class. Frank goes, to find Steve's friend. The story moves back and forth among Steve's childhood, the scene of the accident, and the aftermath of Frank's first Lindy hop. Black eyes, group therapy, loneliness, boys being boys, roads not taken, and saying good-bye color the story.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
- Frank bakes bread for his family business, and on this day he is delivering bread on an isolated mountain road, in a scene where nearly everything is blue. He gets a call from his friend Kip who says there is a smell he can't get rid of, and he is trying extraordinary measures. Frank keeps a picture of his wife Rita with him. These are connected.
Frank is passed by a happy older man, and farther down the road, he sees a car has wrecked. It is that man, though the man is talking and seems coherent. The man's injuries are serious and Frank calls 911 on his cell phone.
The viewer has learned at this point about Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School and that Steve, the older man who wrecked his car, was on his way there to meet Lisa on the fifth day of the fifth month of the fifth year of the new millennium. Frank has agreed to take his place, and colors are normal again. Frank signs in and goes to the dance class, which meets every Thursday. Marienne introduces herself and says she will be teaching the class since her mother can't be there. An old man whispers to Frank that Marilyn died in the 1970s. Marienne demonstrates the Lindy Hop with Randall, a suave dancer. Eventually, she persuades Frank to try. Frank dances with several women, but none of them are Lisa. Meredith has a black eye but claims she fell.
Two more scenes take place in the present. Frank is back at work and he tells Samson he went dancing. Samson is glad to hear it because Frank needs to move on. Rita has died and Frank is still grieving. Then we meet his grief support group which includes Gabe, Rafael, Cameron, Matthew, Blake, and of course Kip, whose problems make sense now.
Back at the crash site, the paramedics have arrived and everything is blue again. Asked if he is Steve's friend, Frank explains he was just passing by, but Steve's best hope is if Frank can keep him talking so he stays awake. So Frank gets in the ambulance and Steve tells his story.
It is 1962, and colors are normal again. Steve and his friends, including Peter and Dulin, are playing, and they hate girls. In a scene where everything is orange, the boys are dressed for and participating in actual combat. But it's just a fantasy. British Bulldog is kind of violent, though, but Kate and Lisa want to play. The boys reluctantly let them, and Steve accidentally gives Lisa a black eye. The girls are mad.
Steve and Peter sneak into Marilyn Hotchkiss' school to secretly watch all the corny lessons, which include a movie like kids used to watch in school with an incredibly proper family that has learned the right way to do things. Then both boys end up being sent to the school, which they hate. They have to wear suits, and the girls wear frilly dresses. The very proper Marilyn promises to teach them the latest dance steps but of course what she teaches was new when she was their age. Steve changes his mind about the class when he sees Lisa, who still has a black eye.
The movie goes back and forth between scenes from 1962, scenes from the ambulance, and other scenes from the present day. Frank disposes of Rita's ashes at Suicide Bridge, and he goes to Meredith's workplace to meet her, but changes his mind when he seems her but she doesn't see him. Frank continues to attend the classes, where Randall seems jealous of all the attention Frank is giving Meredith. Frank's tires go flat, but he can't prove anything. It turns out Randall is her stepbrother and he is very protective. One day Randall hits frank and is told to leave the class and not come back.
The grief support group members join the class, and Randall comes back to tell how much it means to him, but Marienne is not changing her mind. Frank goes out to talk with Randall, and they settle their differences, with Randall even giving Frank money for the tires. Randall apologizes and Marienne takes him back.
Eventually all the efforts by Frank and the paramedics are not enough, and Steve dies. Frank finds Lisa and tells her, and while she acts like the plan to meet again was no big deal, she has a box devoted to her experiences at the school, and the news makes her sad.
Steve's story has one more chapter: he was in prison with Booth for armed robbery. Early in the movie Steve was starting to tell the story, and it is later revealed he was telling it to Booth, who was tired of hearing it over and over.
Meredith comes to visit Frank at work, and it is clear they will end up together,
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (2005) officially released in India in English?
Answer