User Reviews

After a terrible bullying experience, Bruce Garrett (Nick Frost) has now become an ego-deflated, self-loathing, trapped as a wallflower young engineer who lost all hopes of ever being in love with his only escape is eating at Nando's take-outs. When the arrival of his new boss, an American named Julia (Rashida Jones), his lease on life turns for the better. However, he does feel worthy enough to win her love. His dominant male colleague named Drew (Chris O'Dowd) naturally steps up to the plate to win her heart. Within a twist of irony, she has a very true passion for a man who could dance, particularly salsa dancing, which he is master in that craft. Bruce gets drawn back to the inner demons that has been haunting him for a long time. But through trail and error along with some persuasion from his sister Sam (Olivia Colman), Bruce must regain the dancing skills he once perfected and to try to the win the heart out of Julia up on the dance floor.

If you've seen the 1993 "Strictly Ballroom", you'll simply enjoy "Cuban Fury", a film that juxtaposes the romantic comedy romp along with the art of salsa dancing to keep you both entertained while you hum to the music as the dancing will come after you something fierce. The movie like "Strictly Ballroom", has its share of intriguing characters that are both humorous and very effective in their actions and the dialogue. Television director James Griffiths in his movie debut antes up the charm factor with two great performers like Nick Frost and Chris O'Dowd who's charismatic nature about them never keeps the story from becoming mundane. To those who love salsa dancing may sit still on their seats as Frost and O'Dowd will melt your heart in amazement as they will compete against each other and will dance their hearts out as a way to reach their goals to win the heart of Julia. In the in it isn't Bruce or Drew that's the winner, but for the dance enthusiast, it's the audience that's the winner.

By the time we get introduced to Nick Frost's character, a bulbous, loner of a man who's now a high-ranking industrial machinery designer who was a salsa dancer expert was haunted 22 years ago from a legion of bullies were on the prowl who made him swallow his costume sequins. But his desire to dance returns once his new boss, Julia enters his life who has a fascination for salsa. A memorable scene was when they were in the corridor and their name tags magnetize together was quite precious. What's also hilarious is that her name is Julio. The real scene stealer is Chris O'Dowd as Bruce's rival who also has the hots for Julia, Drew. He's a jerk who likes to tell dirty jokes and makes seductive passes towards Julia.

But it's not just Bruce, Julia and Drew that carry the whole movie. We have Kayvan Novak as Bejan who's also a salsa impresario who encourages Bruce to shave his chest hairs, get a superficial tan and to purchase a silk tan. Olivia Colman who plays Bruces's sister Sam persuades him to relinquish from his comfort zone and takes him to a tavern and gives him some shots where she works while sporting a Polynesian call-girl uniform. Rory Kinnear who plays Bruce's friend Gary who's confused by the situation involving Bruce and Bejan. There's a plethora of great scenes involving Burce and his former salsa dancing coach, Ron Parfitt played by Ian McShane as he get him to regain a talent he lost as he had the "legs of a stallion and the arms of an eagle". McShane has great depth along with compelling facial expressions which flows along the film quite nicely.

The principal leads are virtually sublime and this film is a dynamic underdog story as Frost tries everything to overcome his inner demons to dazzle us with his one hidden talents with his supreme salsa moves which will likely melt your heart like a hot knife through butter. Jones is quite superb as her natural beauty and charm she's in the middle of Bruce and Drew's competitive ways to win her approval. Watch for a cameo from Simon Pegg in a memorable scene in a parking lot where Bruce and Drew are competing against each other showing off their salsa dancing skills. The climax is very exciting as the two rivals compete on the dance floor and is backed by wonderful music and the adrenaline pulsing sound of the crowd as the heart pounds while the rhythms to the sound will likely sweep you off your feet. You never know this movie may inspire you to want to learn the art of salsa dancing.

It's not like we haven't seen this type of crowd pleaser before, but it's certainly fun to replay those old movies, or to discover a new gem inspired by those classics, where the little guy, the dark horse ends up winning the first prize or gets the girl. It's not like we don't expect; we're not that naive. You don't mess with a formula that works.

Nick Frost plays a man who lost the opportunity and desire to become one of the best salsa dancers in his town. He undergoes a traumatic experience when he's a young man, which ends up derailing his career and destroying any chances of a love life, though this is not very clear. I guess his self-confidence was destroyed by the same incident.

25 years later, he is charmed by his new boss, and to make things more complicated, she also shares his love of salsa dancing. Suddenly, the desire to take up dancing is back. He's willing to step out of his comfort zone and work on remastering his skills. He wants to win her, even if such an endeavor will prove to be arduous and more difficult than he imagined. First, he must get the training and blessing of his old mentor, and he must endure the constant and vulgar teasing of his co-worker, a dirt bag who is also pursuing the attention of the lovely Julia.

The film is not outright funny, but it's charming, driven by Frost's charm. He has an insanely goofy and warm smile that wins everyone over. He is also pretty good at moving to the salsa beat. Some of the shots show his entire body, so I figured he was doing his own stunts/dancing. The music soundtrack is also terrific, full of energy, fury, and plenty of rhythm. It's hard not to sit in the audience and want to start dancing, too.

It's an old-fashioned film, with plenty of heart and a good reason to go back and enjoy what the movies can do: give us a great time.

Literally, all I knew about this film was the leading actor and that it was about dancing, it looked like a pretty average watch, and the critics gave it mixed reviews, I was still up for it though. Basically, as a teenager, Bruce Garrett (Ben Radcliffe) was a champion salsa dancer winning every award going, and he was gearing up for the biggest, the UK Junior Salsa Championships. But an incident of bullying robs him of his confidence and passion, and he is diverted on a different path. Twenty-two years later, the adult Bruce (Nick Frost) is now an overweight slob working in an office. Recently, he has been trying to get close to his smart, funny, gorgeous new American boss Julia (Rashida Jones). One day, Bruce finds out she has a passion for salsa dancing, and he sees this as his opportunity to impress and woo her. But Bruce is out of practise, so he seeks out his old teacher Ron Parfitt (Ian McShane) to re-master the art of dance. Ron is reluctant at first, forcing Bruce to confront the reasons he quit dancing in the first place. Also, Bruce has a rival in alpha male colleague Drew (Chris O'Dowd), who constantly bullies him, and dominates Julia's attention. Bruce is supported by his salsa teacher, his classmates, including the flamboyant Bejan (Fonejacker's Kayvan Novak), and his former dancing partner, his supportive sister Sam (Olivia Colman). Slowly, Bruce perfects his moves and steps and recaptures his feeling, not only for the dance but for his life. His friends convince him to enter the local nightclub's salsa dance competition, and to invite Julia to be his dance partner. But when Bruce goes to see Julia, Drew is already at her apartment. He is tricked into thinking they are having a sexual encounter, and he leaves without questioning her. After Bruce has left, Julia realises what Drew is up to and outright rejects his advances, kicks him out and threatens his position at work. Julia follows Bruce to the nightclub, where he is doing pretty well with Sam and an old routine, they are about to enter the final heat/round of the competition. Bruce is elated to see Julia has followed him, and finally plucks up the courage to ask her to dance with him. They dance the last round of the competition, Bruce does not win, but regains his true self and finally wins Julia's heart. Also starring Rory Kinnear as Gary, Alexandra Roach as Helen, Steve Oram as Security Guard Kevin, Isabella Steinbarth as Young Sam and Kevin Eldon as Neighbour, and there's a blink and you'll miss it cameo from Simon Pegg as the Driver in Car Park. Frost does well as the lead, Jones is pretty, O'Dowd is good at being nasty, McShane and Colman are fine, and Novak does indeed steal some scenes. I agree with critics, it may have been better to see a large guy trying to pull off Latin dance for laughs, it is taken seriously, and the romance element is only slight, but it does offer up some fun dance sequences and good use of music, and there are some amusing moments, overall it is an average but reasonable romantic comedy. Worth watching!

Presumably intentionally, a host of dance - movie clichés are assembled and trotted out in no particular order to no particular purpose in "Cuban Fury" in which ugly duckling Company Man becomes Beautiful Swan free(-ish) spirit through the love of Salsa. There is a lot of swearing as is the fashion and if that makes you laugh then feel absolutely free to fall about at this because precious little else is even vaguely funny. I may be biased here because the only Frost /Pegg collaboration I have seen apart from this is "Hot Fuzz" which I thought pretty dire. But I like to think I watched "Cuban Fury" with an unprejudiced eye. There are felicitous moments such as when Mr Frost punches his arm through a stud wall in his office and calmly carries on signing papers with his free hand and when the wonderful Miss O.Coleman joins him on the golf range and beats him out of sight,but generally,for a satire to succeed it should be a bit subtle and a lot funnier. The car park "dance off" between Mr Frost and Mr O'Dowd was done better in "Benidorm". Miss Coleman effervesces as Mr Frost's sister and erstwhile dance partner and it is good to see her in a more lighthearted role than of late. For me,Mr I McShane walks away with the picture without apparent effort as the Salsa teacher.Here is a man whose hypnotic persona has often been ill - served on television and only recently as in "Deadwood" has his charisma been unshackled. In "Cuban Fury" his magnificent seediness and faux malevolence is given full rein and he has no difficulty in dominating the film despite having relatively little screen time. For him and Miss Coleman the picture gets a generous six out of ten,rather more than it's true worth in my opinion.

A nice little film that is chock full of heart (or of course 'El Corazón') Nick frost has a geeky charm that means you really can't help but like him whatever he's in. He does well to carry this film as the central character and is helped along by a strong supporting cast. Everyone nails their respective roles, particularly Chris O'Dowd who really is a loathsome creep throughout. It seems weird to see Frost without Pegg as they are so interlinked in our minds (but there is a lovely redeeming shot to make us all feel at ease once again). The dancing and music is fantastic and massive credit to Nick Frost for his skills on the dance floor. My favourite scene by far is a fantastic satirical dance off between frost and O'Dowd to 'win the girl'. This is just brilliant and these two pull it of perfectly. Fun film, good acting, plenty of feel good vibes.

CUBAN FURY is yet another British comedy that isn't very funny. The concept - a workplace love triangle in which our portly hero has to return to his childhood love of salsa in order to win over the hot new American manager from his obnoxious co-worker - is sound but the jokes are too few, the direction is generic and, in a film which is all about dancing, it's all too obvious that Nick Frost as the lead can't actually dance very well. Among the supporting cast Ian McShane is nicely seedy and Kayvan Novak steals the show as a camp Persian fellow-dancer, but there's not enough of them and too much of Nick Frost being clumsy and Chris O'Dowd being a jerk.