Rating: 
Summary: excellent film
Review: seen the movie several times, and i still enjoy watching it. i recall my mom picking this one up, and i wasn't terribly interested considering the ballroom dancing theme. nevertheless, it took maybe 5 minutes before realizing this was more than some cheezy romantic comedy. the movie is a winner -- great story, acting & dance. the movie has lots of laughs, and i particularly like the satirical humor derived from the rigid institutionalization of an art form -- dance in this case -- and those involved that take themselves far too seriously (i.e. barry fife, scott's mum, etc).
Rating:
Summary: Baz is a Genious!
Review: The first time I saw this film I fell in love with it. Paul Mercurio is brooding and fantastic. Not a dancer, but he plays it with such confidence it's hard to believe he isn't really Scott Hastings, a champion. And Tara Morice will absolutly wow you. A Spanish-Australian (?) with a fiery temper and a sweet smile. And she dances as smooth as a bird flies. A great supporting cast, Doug's mom Shirely is so great with her "happy face." I am a total fan of dance and dancers, I love to watch ballroom dance competitions on PBS. And nothing's better than a slow-but-steadily-building love story in my opinion. Baz Luhrman needs to make more films and pronto! This film is essntial to any romantic comedy collection, it's a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: 'A life lived in...' well, you know the rest.
Review: I was lured into 'Strictly Ballroom' by an 'indie-phile' friend of mine, and I was certain it was going to be one long boring Ingmar Bergman film of crane shots, brimming with double meaning and intellectual purpose. But the film opens documentary-style, with ballroom queen Pat Thompson so distraught over her son's improvisational dance steps she actually breaks down in sobs saying, "I keep asking myself why? Where did I go wrong as a mother?!!" I've never laughed so hard five minutes into a movie in my life. From that moment on the film is a marvelous, slightly over-the-top, ode to the art and serious business of professional ballroom dancing (a form of entertainment I admit I was only aware of from the biannual PBS specials hosted by Ron Montez and the late great Juliet Prowse). But director Baz Luhrmann (whom I think went a bit too MTV for the film 'Moulin Rouge') gets the balance of comedy and Hollywood musical spoof just right here. The film goes from mock-docudrama to a charming, hotheaded-boy-meets-shy-awkward-girl story flawlessly, and even though there are sizable cliches' throughout the film (awkward girl is ostracized by society for no apparent reason; all accomplished dancers seem to be sprayed with a layer of tanning lacquer and gunite), the film nips each one of them in the bud quickly, and you end up not minding the swan-like transformation of leading lady Tara Morice. (Her casting in the film is inspired as she is not a conventional Hollywood 'hottie,' but uniquely beautiful just the same.) The dancing is marvelous, especially the final 'paso doble' with Morice and Paul Mercurio (who seems to be channeling Jose Greco and Bob Fosse). Don't live your life in fear- check this one out.
Rating:
Summary: Strictly Magnificant
Review: Once in a blue moon, a crowd pleaser comes along that soars the spirit. "Strictly Ballroom" is one of those movies.Directed in a delicious high-key style by Baz Luhrmann (WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S ROMEO + JULIET, MOULIN ROUGE) in his madcap debut (the first in what would be called the Red Curtain Trilogy), the film tells the story of a top ballroom dancer who pairs with a plain, left-footed ugly duckling, when his maverick style earns him the disdain of his more conventionally-minded colleagues. Together, they give it their all and aim to make dreams of the National Championship title come true.
To say this film is amazing would be an understatement. It is one of the most gloriously entertaining and awe-inducing films ever made. The cast is simply magnificant and Luhrmann introduces his clever, fast-paced directing and editing style here. He brilliantly uses a documentary style opening and ocassional interludes which help better understand the lovable characters. It works wonderfully!
This is definitely the feel-good movie of the decade. It's hypnotic, strange, and deeply heartfelt--a deliciously entertaining crowd-pleaser. A highly recommended must!
Rating:
Summary: Eye-Candy
Review: This film is dazzling and fantastic, and in buying the DVD you get more information and the picture is better, it's worth every penny.
Every one who has seen Moulin Rouge or Romeo+Juliet knows that Baz is a flashy guy with new ideas, clearly shown in this movie, about professional ballroom dancers, one of whom, Scott, is bored with the standard and excepted steps. He makes up incredible gymnastic crowdpleasing moves, but the professionals hate them, and they lose a competition because of them. He upsets his partner, Liz, and has to find a new one.
I won't say more, so as not to ruin anything, but I have to comment, doesn't Fran over-react to the Tina Sparkle thing? Oh well.
I would recommend this movie to anyone, but I do have to comment on the predictability. Then again, what was the last UNpredictable movie? Ocean's Eleven? Sixth Sence?
Still, a fascinating peice of eye-candy with great charectors and great dances performed by great actor/dancers.
Rating:
Summary: Love Is In The Air!
Review: One of my favorite films is STRICTLY BALLROOM. The 1992 sleeper hit directed by Baz Luhrman is a gem. This was Luhrman's first feature film as director before going on to direct the hugely popular "Romeo + Juliet" and "Moulin Rouge." Luhrmann cleverly uses a documentary style opening and interludes which pull you into the film and make you quickly form bonds with the loveable characters on the way. The storyline follows Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio), one of Australia's great hopes in the competitive world of ballroom dancing. Surrounded by dance, Scott's parents own a small dancing school, those around him live for the dream that Scott will win the Pan Pacific Championship trophy with dancing partner Liz (Gia Carides.) Surely the most enthusiastic for Scott to achieve ballroom greatness is his mother Shirley, a former dance champion herself, who's iron determination and fraught ambition fills the air with tension, very much the antithesis of her husband Doug who is timid and all but mute. The road to starlight stardom is rocky for Scott who's passion for dance and natural talent means he wants to escape the strict rigours of the ballroom rules. Scott wants to dance his own steps - Scott is a rumba rebel. As those around him panic that he will be too individual for the rule-bound ballroom world, his chances of success seem distant as his regular dance partner leaves. There only seems to be one person who believes in Scott's vision, Fran the ugly-duckling dance pupil. Fran's own love of dancing is equally as perplexing to her family. From a traditional Spanish family with strong dancing bonds they will not accept that ballroom is anything more than mickey mouse dancing, a mutilated form of 'real' movement. Ballroom dancing, a pastime that is ridiculed by many may not seem the obvious choice for a feature film, but "Strictly Ballroom" elevates it status to a new level. One of humor and admiration. The film takes the sequins and dusts them with glitter. The dresses are flouncy, the hair is bleached and the tans are permaglow but it is done with such affection, such humor you know the director actually has the upmost respect for this dazzling community and takes that admiration and transforms the film into a small masterpiece.
Without doubt Paul Mercurio (Scott Hastings) has a wonderful and brooding presence throughout the film. Possibly not since John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever has a dancing man on screen set the heart fluttering as much. Remarkably graceful, manly and sexy - here's a leading man you want to literally sweep you off your feet. He comes across with great passion. Tara Morice as Fran also turns in a superb performance. Thanks to careful direction and use of costume and make-up her transformation from ugly-duckling is not as crude as in so many other films, there's no stereotyped secretary with a bun and glasses scenario here. The whole character of Fran revolves around subtlety and growth with Morice brings across very well. The supporting cast all deserve credit especially Scott's parents, Shirley played by Pat Thompson (Strictly Ballroom was her last film before her death) and Doug played by Barry Otto. ntonio Vargas stars as Fran's father Rico and in reality is a well respected Flamenco dancer and actually worked as the dance trainer on the film. Films rarely come more feelgood than this. It is as happy and loud as the dancers sequined dresses. It is pure glitter on a the screen and a film to lift the spirits. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: You Won't Admit You Love Me ....
Review: This is a wonderful, beautiful movie ' it is a little mixed, but it all works, with the flat, cartoonish elements which 'Baz' seems to prefer, conquered by the elements of actual drama and dance. Paul Mercurio dances very well, and he carries off a variety of routines; he manages the ballroom dancing fine, even though he is more a modern dancer by training; of course, his solo which is interrupted by Fran's approaching him, and steeling her nerves to ask him to dance with her; the laughable 'pseudo-Paso Doble' which excites such mirth; and the 'flamenco-in-training' with Antonio Vargas. Tara Morice and Mercurio are a terrific couple, and she does so well with the dancing, few would ever suspect that she was not herself actually a dancer. Vargas is fantastic. And crucially for the movie, Mercurio, Morice, Vargas and Armonia Benedito form the emotional heart of the movie, and they carry it off brilliantly. The unsung genius of the movie, for he serves as a crucial 'pivot' between this, the 'human' element of the story, and the cartoonish 'Baz' element (the comic-book caricatures which are Barry Fife, Les Kendall and Mrs Hastings), is Barry Otto as Doug Hastings ' within the confines of 'caricatureville' he is an object of scorn and contempt, and meekly escapes into his own dreams in a number of shadowy solo dance scenes (and impressively plastic in his movements, too). Otto comes close to stealing the scene when his insistence on 'bending Scott's ear' dispels the fog of Barry Fife's manipulative deceptions, at the last instant, when Scott and Liz were just about to go out to the dance floor for the Latin Finals ' and when his clapping conquers the Un-Music when Fife has pulled The Plug .... This is a fabulous movie, with some exhilarating dancing, and a great deal of charm. Indeed, it is a great movie, in spite of Baz Luhrmann. The more we have seen of Baz's work since 'Strictly Ballroom,' with his juvenile obsessions with breasts and sex, the color-blind dependence on gaudy extremes which we are invited to interpret as 'fresh vision,' the low-budget 'high concept' which The Blazoned Motto is supposed to represent ' the wonder is, that 'Strictly Ballroom' succeeds so marvelously well. The answer to this puzzle must lie in the fact that Baz was but a co-writer, and but a co-director of 'SB' ' so that the other party must have been the artistically responsible half, who made sure that 'SB' rose above Baz's conceptual limitations. Whenever we see something more recent by 'Baz,' and gag at its shallowness, we come back to 'SB,' and we wonder that he managed to get THIS movie so perfectly right. Five stars, though you won't need to bother with the 'Baz-ly' commentary, which is about 2% genuinely interesting information about the making of the movie, and 98% empty, self-flattering 'Baz-chat.'
Rating:
Summary: Cinderella and Cinderfella
Review: What a WONDERFUL, funny, movie with a profound message about being vulnerable and willing to take chances. Scott takes a chance on new dance steps. Fran takes a chance on being rejected. Dad takes a chance to "bend yer ear for a tic." What is SO liberating is how each character grows from their willingness to take a chance and how even the weak characters, terrified of change, find themselves redeemed and enlarged--beginning principally with Fran's courage enabling Scott to stop being a "selfish" dancer. I watch this movie at least 2 or 3 times a year. "A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
Rating:
Summary: A life lived in fear is a life half lived!
Review: Being Baz Lurhmann's first major film directing, "Strictly Ballroom" is a delightful modern life comedy about a ballroom dancer (Scott) who has the urge to self-express by dancing his own steps in the ballroom-dancing championship, which, as it can be imagined, is considered to be an offense to the tradition. The film itself is full of dynamics and energy, with swift scene leaping, sometimes very casual camera work that gives you a documentary kind of feeling. Paul Mercurio, who plays the dancer Scott, is a brilliant dancer as well as a fiery actor, and Fran, Scott's dancing partner, is naturally acted by Tara Morice, who, with no short of passion in her dancing with Paul Mercurio, brings poetic beauty and realness to the character. There are wonderful songs and dances through out the film. It's entertaining, it's funny, and more or less, it makes you think about your own life. "A life lived in fear is a life half lived" is the essence of the movie, which I believe is also the motto that guides Baz Lurhmann in his artistic creation. For many years, one after another, he has brought out brilliant works - stage or screen - with freshness and creativity. As much as I respect the traditions, I admire the courage to challenge the traditions. Ballroom dancing can be dull without the occasionally-popped-out rule-breaker like Scott, and so is the realm of art without the genius like Baz Lurhmann.
Rating:
Summary: Love on the Dance floor
Review: This is the first of all the Baz Lhurmann's movies I had watched. I love the music and the story. Makes one fall in love and encourage people to express themselves, do what is right, and follow what the heart says. The DVD provided special features related to the making of the movie. Great music and cinematography. Makes one want to learn how to dance. :)
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