THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
I guess when you encounter something you weren't looking for, it could change your life.
PLOT
Cha Cha Real Smooth follows 22 year old Andrew who lives in New Jersey with his mother Lisa, stepfather Greg and young brother David. Fresh out of college, he hopes to go to Barcelona with his girlfriend Maya (Amara Pedroso), but she breaks up with him before she leaves. Still feeling determined to reunite with her down the line, he works at the fast food chain 'Meat Sticks' in hopes to save up for the trip. One night, he takes David to a bat mitzvah and gets good attention from the parents when encouraging the kids to dance, including Lola who is the autistic daughter of her young mother Domino. Leaving a good impression on everyone, he is hired as a party starter for a few upcoming bar/bat mitzvahs. With a newfound job, he intends to save up the money for Barcelona. The next party he hosts goes awry when he gets removed as DJ after confronting another kid bullying Lola. As that was happening, Domino is found bleeding in the bathroom. After Andrew gets her clothes and takes her home, she reveals that she is engaged with her fiance Joseph, who works as a lawyer in Chicago, and explains that the blood is a result of a recent miscarriage. Out of the blue, she chooses to kiss him but he chooses to turn her down, sensing that she didn't want to. Appreciating his kindness towards her and her daughter, Domino hires him to babysit Lola. As he waits for things to come around, Andrew also takes an interview on providing an outreach for children whose parents have ALS. He also gives advice to David on how to succeed in achieving the first kiss. During another night of babysitting, Lola gives him permission to scratch her back like her mother would. On his way out, he notices tension between Domino and Joseph, believing they might not love each other. When he goes out one night at a bar, he surprisingly encounters Domino and it gives him the chance to talk to her again. He does ask why she wants to marry Joseph and she replies that she wants commitment, but he believes she needs a soulmate. He does end up falling and cutting himself, which leads to Domino taking him home to clean him up. After this, she tells him that she doesn't want him to babysit Lola anymore, wanting him to enjoy his 20s. She kisses him again, but they stop themselves when Joseph comes home early. Upset of not getting the girl, he would take it out on David by the time he returns home. On his last bar mitzvah gig, things get out of control: David almost kisses the girl he likes named Margaret (Brooklyn Ramirez), but chooses not to when seeing kids bully Lola. Andrew tries separating everyone from fighting, but one of the parents mistake him to start it. When one of the fathers tries to hit him, he hits an intervening Lisa instead. The conflict reaches an end when Greg punches the man who punches his wife. After the family goes home, Andrew decides to go visit Domino personally since she wasn't there. He tells her that he loves her, but she rejects him and assures him that she loves Joseph even when it doesn't appear that way. She then explains that they can't be together because he still needs to figure himself out as an adult. Accepting heartbreak, he leaves her house for the last time, but is thanked by Joseph for taking care of Lola. By the next day, Andrew starts working at the job he wanted and he makes his decision to not go to Barcelona, accepting that Maya has moved on. He announces this to his mother, along with his intent to move out and appreciates everything she's done for him. Before picking up David from school, he sees Domino for the last time who shares that she has a hard time accepting her life will be defined only be defined by Lola and Joseph, while he has himself. Andrew accepts the truth and hugs her goodbye. The film would end in a six month time jump, showing Domino marry Joseph while Andrew enjoys his life freely, living it to the fullest like she encouraged.
THOUGHTS
I gotta say, AppleTV+ just gets better every time I make time for their original content because this one caught me off guard in huge fashion. Writer/Director Cooper Raiff made something oh so tender I couldn't stop thinking about it when it ended. He had me laughing with moments of absurdity and had me crying with moments of heartbreak, and that's a good thing because that was the whole point of this story he is sharing. When you are living your life, you need to figure out how to go through it rather than obsess over what you want. You stay focused on one thing, then you won't be getting anywhere. As an actor, Raiff is able to teach us this in the role of Andrew. We love Andrew because we related to the feeling of wanting something so bad you can't stand it that you might not ever get it. The opening flashback where he gets turned down by his first crush showed how bad that he wanted love. That carried on in his life that he didn't think too much of his future until he reached a solution. He slowly realized it wouldn't work out with Maya, but he truly got the wakeup call when it came to Domino. Portrayed beautifully by Dakota Johnson, she was someone who acting out of fear yet found solace around Andrew because she admired how he never was stressed of what was ahead. She enjoyed being around him because he represented possibility. Maybe there is a chance for things to work out between them, but there would still be another where it might not and she wasn’t gonna take that risk because knew she wanted commitment. She is scared for it to not work out because Lola’s dad, but she finds herself grateful that Joseph is one who wants commitment as well. Having her daughter so young in her life made her miss out on living for herself and that is where she can’t bare having Andrew make the same mistake. Heartbreak is a difficult feeling as it was shown for him, but it only made him stronger as time went by and seeing him partying at the end proves she was right, living is more important than waiting for what you want. It is a given that their paths will lead to them not seeing each other again, but no matter how far they go and knowing how impactful they were to each other’s lives in a short amount of time, I know they won’t ever forget each other. There was no true reason to not like Joseph because Raúl Castillo plays him as a decent guy whose doing his best to take care of his new family. He is in the right to be vague towards Andrew because he doesn't think his business is his. Since you know he was unaware of Domino's issues, you know the guy meant well and shouldn't be ridiculed for his attitude alone. Couples have moments of struggle, but not all are permanent and knowing that, I know he and Domino will have a good life together and continue working things out. I definitely gotta briefly give a shoutout to the kids in this movie because they made the heart of this movie bigger than it had to be and that was satisfying. Evan Assante showed David as one who was just going for what he wanted with little worry and would have not done it without the motivation his brother gave. And Vanessa Burghardt brought the purest heart for Lola who was full of love. The best thing about her is that she was patient to trust people with the love she'll give. With Andrew doing nothing but give love first, she was comfortable to do the same. Although everybody moved on with their lives, I'm sure she won't forget him like he won't forget her and her mother. Going back to the adults, it's too damn easy to love Leslie Mann as the supportive Lisa because she does it so naturally. All she wants is for Andrew to be happy and can't help supporting him in whatever small/big decision he makes. She doesn't push him about taking his future serious because she couldn't risk pushing him away, which makes it a relief for her when he makes bigger decisions on her own. Since she doesn't speak upfront about the future, it makes room for the other half to be the realist. Enter Brad Garrett who definitely caught me off guard in playing Greg as a guy who sounds like a hard ass, but is speaking out of love. He is the only one in the family that approaches Andrew about taking his life serious because he and Lisa won't be around forever to take care of him. Off of that, it becomes harder for Andrew to believe he cares. However, the ultimate test was proven when he chose to defend them at bar mitzvah altercation. Seeing him praise his actions was the moment where he accepted him, which shows that time is all that is needed to accept people you don't understand. I love this movie a whole lot right now, but I admit there were a few moments that confused me. Like am I the only one wondering how long Greg and Lisa have been together? Considering that Lisa was still with Andrew's dad in the opening flashback, it makes me wonder a whole lot. And I got nothing against Josh, but does it really make sense to not move to Chicago when that is where the work is? I mean it just doesn't sound logical and that feels like a guaranteed to be made upon a relationship. It really surprises me that this doesn't make Domino leave him. Other than that, this is still an awesome film. In short, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a pure gem from 2022 for having us fall in love with the unexpected adventure that life puts us through. If you have AppleTV+ and want the wake up call that will make you smile afterwards, this one will do the trick.
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