Film Review – Cha Cha Real Smooth

Two years ago, Cooper Raiff made his feature-length directing debut with “Shithouse.” It was an awful title slapped on a sensitive story of loneliness and human connection, identifying the young filmmaker as someone to watch. Raiff has returned with “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” which continues his career interest in bad titles for decent movies, providing a puzzling label for an intimate tale of a twentysomething man trying to figure out the world at a most emotionally complex time in his life. Raiff has a way with the softer side of characterization and interactions, endeavoring to create a study of confusion and defense mechanisms slowly lowered by the sheer power of attraction. “Cha Cha Real Smooth” isn’t anything too distinct, but it carries itself with confidence and Raiff has a troubling-yet-wonderful way of steering his writing right into cliché, only to dodge disaster at the last second, adding a few surprises along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com