Review of Cuban Fury (2014) by Stuart K — 30 Apr 2014

The directorial debut of TV director James Griffiths, (Episodes and Up All Night), and written by Jon Brown, (TV's Mongrels, Misfits and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps), based upon an idea by star Nick Frost.

This is a silly comedy about dancing which follows the structure and cliches of all other underdog films. It doesn't all work, but it has heart and charm along the way, and a good cast. Back in the late 1980's, Bruce Garrett (Frost), was a brilliant young dancer, trained by Ron Parfait (Ian McShane), but after being set upon by bullies, Bruce gave it up.

Present day, and Bruce now works in an office job, and he falls for his new American boss Julia (Rashida Jones), then he discovers that Julia does salsa dancing. Bruce decides to get back dancing, and tracks down Ron to a run-down dancing club, but Bruce convinces Ron to train him up again, with help from vain professional dancer Bejan (Kayvan Novak).

It's not long before Bruce finds his dancing feet again, but big-headed co-worker Drew (Chris O'Dowd) is also after Julia's love. It's a slight romantic comedy which is also about dancing, but it does have some good dancing moments, including a dance-off between Frost and O'Dowd, which manages to be hilarious and brilliantly choreographed.

It's not perfect but it manages to be a good little distraction for an hour and a half, but that's about it.