Raiff ’s rom-com an adorability campaign trying to be a movie
Cooper Raiff ’s romantic comedy “Cha Cha Real Smooth” clearly has a lot of people’s numbers. Far be it from me to dump on a graceless, self-flattering movie’s attempt to warm the world’s collective heart. Well. Not too far, apparently.
Writer-director Raiff stars as Andrew, a 22-yearold bar and bat mitzvah “party starter” who beguiles Domino, the sexily messed-up single mother played by Dakota Johnson. Andrew’s way into Domino’s heart is by winning over her autistic teenage daughter,
Lola, played by Vanessa Burghardt in the movie’s sole grace note.
He’s not an operator; he’s just “the sweetest person ever,” as she says, when she’s not saying things like “when I’m with you, I feel so alive.” Andrew graduated from Tulane with a degree in marketing. The movie is all self-marketing, all the time; Raiff ’s adorability campaign never ceases.
This is the filmmaker’s sophomore effort. “Cha Cha” snagged the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Apple peeled off a cool
$15 million for distribution and streaming rights.
With an ex-girlfriend over in Barcelona, Andrew pines away at home, near where he grew up in New Jersey. He minimum-wages his days at a place called Meat Sticks at the local mall; he shares a bedroom with a younger brother (Evan Assante) in a house with their mom (Leslie Mann) and stepdad (Brad Garrett). Over a series of bar and bat mitzvah parties, once he takes on the party-starter
gig, Andrew gets to know Domino and Lola, eventually becoming Lola’s babysitter whenever Domino’s steely, unsympathetic and then suddenly conveniently sympathetic lawyer fiancé (Raul Castillo) returns home from a case in Chicago.
Now, there are many ways this movie could’ve worked better. A different leading actor, for example. Raiff has some comic curveballs in his delivery, and a handful of decent zingers, but his main impulse and attribute on screen is a shambling, loosey-goosey approach to working in proximity to more skillful performers.
What’s aggravating about “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” though, is more about Raiff the writer-director. Five minutes into the picture he has already used up his slow-motion montage quotient, backed by on-the-nose musical scoring that’s more like a sedative than a complement to the story’s contours. In rotation, practically every major character is shown in awestruck close-up following whatever bit Andrew is up to on the dance floor, or off it. This is rom-com engineering, not human behavior.
And am I the only
gentile watching this thing who finds dialogue such as … Domino: “Sometimes I really envy Judaism.” Andrew: “Same!” … a tad patronizing?
What undermines
Raiff ’s efforts is a creeping smugness and self-regard, positioning every side character as an intern in the Andrew Improvement Program. It’s too easy, maybe, to lump “Cha Cha Real Smooth” in with certain previous Sundance award winners, starting with “The Brothers McMullen.” Charm is an elusive commodity. To many, Raiff and his movie have it to spare. The rest of us can hope he seeks out co-writers and directors who’ll push him past cuteness with his male protagonists, while making some actual, dimensional and emotional sense of the female roles beyond one more doe-eyed reaction shot.
MPAA rating: R (for language and some sexual content)
Running time: 1:47
How to watch: Apple TV+ and in limited theaters