Cooper Raiff’s sophomore film is a beautiful lovelorn drama about the ripple effects human connections can make. What comes to your mind when you hear the title Cha Cha Real Smooth is a surefire way to get lots of people to the dance floor at a party, but it also becomes a metaphor for the way the film’s protagonist navigates life. Premiering at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Raiff serves as writer, director, producer, and star.
)Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
Andrew (Raiff) is fresh out of college and unsure about what comes next when he moves back home with his mom (Leslie Mann), stepdad (Brad Garrett), and younger brother (Evan Assante). While escorting his brother to a bat mitzvah, Andrew finds his temporary calling as a party starter, attending an endless string of bar and bat mitzvahs, getting sky kids to dance. But when he meets Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt), his horizon is broadened to a life he doesn’t want to live without.
Poignantly encapsulating the clunky transition between college graduation and starting your life, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a narrative that’s often missing from the landscape of film. Audiences flock to teen comedies set in high school or college, but it’s a common experience for young adults to find themselves still feeling unprepared to take on the world once they have their degree. And Cha Cha Real Smooth may technically be a drama, but it has a lot of comedy to balance it out.
Cooper Raiff is charismatic and believable as Andrew and you quickly forget that he’s the mastermind behind the entire project. He has a carefree attitude that is fun to watch, particularly the way he interacts with Lola, who is on the spectrum. It’s heartwarming to see the way he sets her at ease and gets her to open up to someone new, something that surprises her mother and helps endear her to Andrew.
The romance that sparks between Andrew and Domino, played by the always-perfect Dakota Johnson, feels real. Theirs isn’t your typical Hollywood meet cute, but they’re also not your typical movie romance, if you can even call it that. While not exactly one-sided, Andrew and Domino are at different points in their lives, a fact that the more level-headed Domino is well aware of.
Raiff dodges predictability in this indie dramedy, but it still leaves viewers feeling good. Being a party starter, or “Jig coordinator” as Andrew labels himself, isn’t a forever career. And while Domino is the woman he falls madly for, it’s actually his friendship with Lola that truly changes the path he’s on. And in return, he has a reverse effect on everyone in his life, all for the better. You’ll laugh, you might cry, but you’ll definitely feel good when the credits roll on Cha Cha Real Smooth.
I give Cha Cha Real Smooth 5 out of 5 stars.