A pleasant inoffensive comedy with Nick Frost for once divorced from Simon Pegg and wooing "Parks and Recreation's" Rashida Lloyd against the nefarious designs of his crude office manager Chris O'Dowd. Turning on the coincidence that Lloyd is an avid salsa dance fan and student while Frost gave up an early flair for the same dance under peer pressure from his fellow school-mates, they unsurprisingly get together and take the film to a predictable "dance-off" conclusion.
The film aims for the same good-time vibe of popular hits like "Dirty Dancing" and "Strictly Ballroom", mixed with the earthier feel of earlier Frost vehicles like "Hot Fuzz" and "Shawn of the Dead" and if it doesn't quite pull it off, it gets by with some amusing situations, funny lines and likable characters.
I probably liked more the supporting parts of the effete Latino male dancer, Frost's supportive sister, played by an underused Olivia Colman, a permatanned Ian McShane as Frost's old tyrannical dance-teacher and Frost's two saddo mates who get together once a week purely to review how ordinary their intervening days have been. As is the norm in contemporary comedies, the humour is a bit off-colour, with some of O'Dowd's conceited caveman comments being a little over the mark, but it reins itself in for the sequin-spectacular finale and feel-good conclusion.
Frost is fine, if a little unbelievable, as his born-to-dance character, Lloyd is inoffensive in a fairly shallow role while O'Dowd garners a fair share of the laughs with his character's crude, boorish behaviour.
Nicely shot and edited, particularly in the fast and furious dance where you'll believe a fat man can fly, "Cuban Fury" is affable, lightweight entertainment worth partnering for 90 minutes.
The film aims for the same good-time vibe of popular hits like "Dirty Dancing" and "Strictly Ballroom", mixed with the earthier feel of earlier Frost vehicles like "Hot Fuzz" and "Shawn of the Dead" and if it doesn't quite pull it off, it gets by with some amusing situations, funny lines and likable characters.
I probably liked more the supporting parts of the effete Latino male dancer, Frost's supportive sister, played by an underused Olivia Colman, a permatanned Ian McShane as Frost's old tyrannical dance-teacher and Frost's two saddo mates who get together once a week purely to review how ordinary their intervening days have been. As is the norm in contemporary comedies, the humour is a bit off-colour, with some of O'Dowd's conceited caveman comments being a little over the mark, but it reins itself in for the sequin-spectacular finale and feel-good conclusion.
Frost is fine, if a little unbelievable, as his born-to-dance character, Lloyd is inoffensive in a fairly shallow role while O'Dowd garners a fair share of the laughs with his character's crude, boorish behaviour.
Nicely shot and edited, particularly in the fast and furious dance where you'll believe a fat man can fly, "Cuban Fury" is affable, lightweight entertainment worth partnering for 90 minutes.