Cha Cha Real Smooth: The indie hit is far too shallow and naive

Cha Cha Real smooth trying so hard to be honest. Writer, director and actor Cooper Raiff’s second feature film (after 2020 shithouse) is a coming-of-age narrative that shows no external villains and does not condemn any of its characters. Its protagonist Andrew (Raiff) resembles Benjamin Braddock in The graduate: He just graduated from college and has little idea of ​​what to do with his life. In his final summer before firmly entering adulthood, he must mature if he hopes to find love.

This is a story written and directed by a 23 year old. This reality defines Cha Cha Real smooths truest virtue (blissful naivety) and its greatest flaw – a hilarious ignorance of reality. It’s a film notable for its myopic, narrow bandwidth.

shithouse is a college comedy about a lonely freshman trying to socialize. With Cha Cha Real smooth, Raiff pushes the timeline forward a few years to deal with a familiar strain of post-grad queasy. Andrew moves back in with his doting mother (Leslie Mann) and laconic stepfather Greg (Brad Garrett). He spends his days working at a fast food restaurant called Meat Sticks and his nights sleeping on his batty little brother David’s (Evan Assante) bedroom floor. Andrew has always had terrible luck with women, especially older, more mature women. An early, charming scene shows a teenage Andrew approaching a woman after a bar mitzvah. She politely abandons him. A decade later, his college girlfriend left him and moved to Europe, and Andrew is devastated and unsure whether to follow after her or move on.

Photo: Apple TV Plus

After a few local New Jersey moms spot Andrew’s bacchanalian talent, he becomes a party starter for bar and bat mitzvahs. The frontier scenes provide an intriguing framework for Andrew’s maturation, bringing him into contact with the adorable Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic daughter, Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). Andrew sees himself as a white knight and quickly embeds himself as a savior in Domino’s world. But life isn’t that simple, a lesson the film is keen to teach Andrew. But Raiff feels ill-equipped to deliver that message in the simple confines of this story.

In a trickier film, Andrew would be the villain chasing Domino despite knowing that she is engaged to Joseph (Raúl Castillo). But Joseph is always travelling, and he doesn’t seem like a good fellow; He is cold and jealous and often belittles Domino. Andrew also knows that Domino battles depression, and in a way he believes they can fix each other’s apparent loneliness. He becomes a fraternal figure to Lola, using the bar and bat mitzvah as locations to watch dominoes.

Raiff tries to walk the line between sincere caring and encouraging selfishness, but only the latter sentiment pulls through. Raiff isn’t playing Andrew with a malignant bone in his body; his awkward insertion into Domino’s life is a mistake by a stupid boy who doesn’t know any better. But that’s a big pill to swallow, at least for viewers cynical enough to question the way Raiff excuses his character’s behavior.

It doesn’t help that Raiff isn’t a particularly compelling lead. It lacks the reach to give a chaotic character like Andrew enough depth to rise above the saccharine. The late-night conversations Andrew and Domino have, in which they express their inner fears and express gentle intimacy, don’t quite capture the inherent sensual danger of these scenes, largely because Raiff has only one expression: surprise. In heavier scenes, his character doesn’t sound as true.

Too often the emotions in Raiff’s script are cosmetic. Aside from Domino, the characters say exactly what they think. Issues like bullying and mental health are emphasized, but while Raiff seems genuinely concerned with those ideas, they make it into the film almost exclusively as ticked boxes. Raiff doesn’t really care about Domino’s personality, so viewers don’t learn anything specific about their marriage. His gaze is intentional and should lead to complicated interpretations of him. But Raiff loves Andrew too much to see through his uglier side.

Photo: Apple TV Plus

Raiff’s narration is bloated – the film runs 107 minutes, a full 15 of which could easily be shortened – but it has a certain charm. Burghardt endows Lola with a rich inner life, Assante is a wobbly ham so uncool he’s adorable, and the stoic Garrett never fails. But none of them ever feel like real people, despite the actors’ best efforts, least of all Domino, who is more of a mood than a person. Nobody reacts the way you would expect. When Joseph finally comes face to face with Andrew, the emotional rift poked and poked through this film results in a muted burn. It’s another example of Raiff liking Andrew too much to fully question his transgressions. Instead, he turns to a few false endings that further imprint his character as empathetic but misguided.

It is clear why so many critics have found Cha Cha Real smooth lovable: It’s comfort cinema. There are no harsh judgments, no interrogation that pokes beneath the surface. Its elemental truths envelop viewers like a warm blanket, reminding them how cold the world can be and how warm it could be with better people. But Andrew is not the better person. And the film’s unwillingness to fully engage with that reality brings it with it Cha Cha Real smooth to a standstill.

Cha Cha Real smooth debuts June 17 in limited theatrical release and on Apple TV Plus.