Cuban Fury (2014)

I heard Nick Frost promoting Cuban Fury on its release and heard the stories about how he had to gather together enough money over a lengthy period to get his project off the ground. When I listen to interviews like that you do tend to lean a bit towards the producers and in this case the star (he wears two hats) for the hard work in getting a non studio non blockbuster to the screen.

But then you often realise why American television produces so much 'made for TV' film fodder, because in America this film would not have made it to cinema release. This merely highlights how low the true British film has fallen since the great days of British comedy, such as Ealing, and even to a degree, the Carry Ons.

Cuban Fury is OK, no more. Nick Frost is OK, no more. There is a reason why actors form teams and that is because they play a foil for each other, and in Cuban Fury Nick Frost has to carry the film which neither he nor the script is capable of. Frost's foil, as such in this film is Chris O'Dowd, but in reality his is the love opposition in Frost's hopes of getting the hand of Rashida Jones. So O'Dowd is working against Frost for the entirety of the film and his over the top lothario is so poorly acted, developed and scripted that his time on screen is time that is more annoying that fun in what is meant to be a comedy.

The story surrounds Frost's infatuation for Jones when she joins his Company as Head of Sales. His infatuation is further enhanced when he realises that she enjoys Salsa, a format that Frost was a champion in before he was bullied out of it in his teenage years. Love has no boundaries however, and Frost is determined to woe this women with his rusty skills and returns to his old mentor, played by Ian McShane, to see whether his now larger and less lithe physique still has the old magic.

As is usual in this kinds of films the 'little man' must battle adversity to win his girl, and in some amusing pre-climax dance scenes that it was Frost does. The fight scene between him and O'Dowd is more akin to West Side Story than Rocky and is very amusing and well edited. But the premise only cast your mind back to another similar British film of recent years, namely Run Fat Boy Run, which did this 'boy tries to win girl' storyline so much better.

The film has a great cast of British characters with McShane definitely becoming a new Oliver Reed for scene stealing. Also worthy are Olivia Colman as Frost's former dance partner sister and Kayvan Novak who steals most of the scenes he appears in.

This film is OK, but could have been so much better.

Fmovies: When I saw the trail or for this film I had mixed feelings, most things nick frost and chris o'dowd do are pretty funny but the plot to me seemed a bit ridiculous. In my honest opinion it's some of the worst work either have done but isn't a bad film.

There were many 15 year olds in the cinema who laughed throughout and will no doubt be repeating the bad language and toilet humour at school on Monday but I didn't see any adult do much more than chuckle. The cameo of Simon Peggy got the biggest laugh and he was in the film barely a minute...that says a lot. Olivia Coleman was by far the funniest character and played her role perfectly.

O'dowd is an arrogant, self absorbed character who seemed to change accents in every scene, I didn't know if he was Irish American English or slightly Latino. He delivered an average performance with much of his humour really being only enjoyed by the youth in the cinema. He wasn't bad but it wasn't anywhere near the best work he is capable of.

Nick frost on the other hand was an endearing character that was acted out very naturally. He was funny and you genuinely want the best for him, some of the dancing scenes came across poor due to his size and how the camera was switching to the professionals in the big moves. I have this thing with actors of a chubbier variety where I feel a lot of the anticipated humour comes from him being big, I neither find it funny or clever to grasp at jokes based on appearance. Frost delivered a good solid performance.

The object of their desires was their boss who was perfect throughout and didn't have much of note to do in the way of acting. I think thousands of actresses could have played that role.

It isn't a bad film, but it was a film that probably didn't need to be made, it's a definite DVD rental but not a cinema masterpiece. It's watchable and mildly entertaining. Plot wise it's completely predictable and plays out like a scenario we've seen over and over again, who gets the girl the underdog or the villain , seen that a million times, the only difference is it had salsa in it, a dance no body under 50 really cares about.

It won't be a cult classic like Shaun of the dead, it won't win awards or do the actors much in the way of acknowledgement. It is an average film tailored to a younger sense of humour. It pulls you in with a great British cast, but never let's any of them bar Coleman shine.

I would say if your 16 go watch this, any older then wait for the DVD, it won't disappoint but with the cost of cinema trips it doesn't warrant the hefty prices of food and admission.

It's not ever going to be a classic every time you see these names but I'd say this was wasted potential. The dancing is OK but just not as impressive as things you see in step up or street dance! It's a silly plot, with a silly backstory, it goes together and flows throughout, it just never excels or stands out.

It screams average but never awful which is it's saving grace, it does get better at the end, it rides along in the average lane occasionally popping into the good lane but being aware never to go to the bad side.

I would give it 5.5/10

The movie was a relatively simple movie all about self-confidence and putting yourself out there. Thats pretty standard fare, but...

The cast are excellent. Most of the people in the movie that dance are actors rather than dancers, unlike movies like "Step up", and it shows with characters like Bejan. He's hilarious, extremely camp and actually quite credible as someone you'd likely see on a salsa dance floor.

Unlike some other reviewers, I am a long way from 50, but I do actually know a little bit about salsa. This movie represents parts of the salsa scene that people not in it don't know about. It shows various styles of salsa (rueda, on-1, on-1 threesomes and carnival), it shows dance style similar to salsa & enjoyed by many on the salsa scene (some shots looked like kizomba or bachata {hard to tell with the bad framing of the shots}, and there was Bejan telling people doing aerobic dance {zumba} to go back to their leisure centres). The movie does have quite a lot of capoeira-inspired dancing, and a lot of dancing that you'd only expect professional dance performers to even come close to attempting (loads of lifts)

Sound: The movie pretty much sounded as it should have, but there was one particularly irritating oversight. The guy(s) who did the soundtrack really didn't worry about matching the on-screen dancing to the musical beat. It made the dancers look like they were about 2 and a half beats off, just horrible.

Its definitely worth watching.

Cuban Fury fmovies. Bruce and his sister Sam danced salsa competitively as kids under the directions of Ron Parfitt (Ian McShane). They were a winning team until Bruce fails to attend the Nationals after being bullied in his costume. He vows never to dance again. Twenty five years later, Bruce Garrett (Nick Frost) is a chubby engineer. His 'friend' Drew (Chris O'Dowd) is a sleazy co-worker. Helen (Alexandra Roach) is a bitter co-worker. They get a new boss in Julia (Rashida Jones) and Bruce immediately falls for her. He discovers that she dances salsa and he tries to put on his dancing shoes once again.

Nick Frost is likable. Chris O'Dowd is a silly fun weasel, and Rashida Jones is absolutely adorable. The movie works whenever these three interact with each other. The awkward romance between Frost and Jones is endearing. The dancing doesn't make sense. I don't understand why Bruce doesn't simply join in the dance class as a beginner. The premise doesn't work and the story suffers. The comedy works but the dancing story doesn't.

These 90 minutes had me laughing so much I had tears on my cheeks by the end of the film. Cuban Fury is a great movie. It is full of rom-com clichés and it uses them all superbly. Everything is in there including a training montage. I laughed loads from start to finish. It you want a check list of reasons to see this film then: Nick Frost - Check Chris O'Dowd - Check Rashida Jones - Check Kayvan Novack - Check and Check again. Olivia Coleman - Check.

There is also great support from Ian McShane, Alexandra Roach and Rory Kinear as well as a very quick and hilarious cameo from a star that I will not name. Nick Frost gets a chance to shine and show that he is more than Simon Pegg's sidekick and Kayvan Novack steals every scene he is in. The script written by John Brown is very lean and has lots quotable lines such as "Al Pa-f*cking-cino" and "I'm late for my ball waxing". IMDb lists some cast members who do not actually appear in the film which makes me suspect that there has been some good editing to keep the movie tight and maintain its momentum. There is one teeny tiny flaw in the plot (who uses cassette tapes in their car these days?) but I laughed so much that I don't care.

Superb. See it

Now, where can I get salsa lessons?

Watching films like the present one is, under some respects, a rite: we know in advance what is awaiting us, we can easily imagine what will happen, how things will turn, how they will end. So when we start watching we wonder mainly one thing: will the story develop as we expect, will our expectations be happily confirmed or on the contrary will something unpleasant let us down? Which is exactly what doesn't have to happen.

Knowingly or not we are seeking for something that will sooth our anxiety, like a balm. This is the prerequisite. Then we check if the film is OK, if it makes us laugh, if the story is original, if it surprises us, if the funny characters are actually funny... and so on.

Well according to me everything is OK in this nice movie, the story is good, the characters are catching and everything is as it had to be: funny and entertaining. A good British answer to American comedies.