How my ratings work:
5 - I really liked/loved it
4 - I liked it
3 - Could've been better/worth a look
2 - Just didn't live up to the potential
1 - Simply aweful

Masgical is the best way for me to describe this films. It's funny, sad, touching, and all around well crafted. I loved the ways they changed the color for the 2 different flashbacks and then normal color of the prestent storyline. I thought it was clever to mix the original short film (which is good in it's own way) with the new film. If you watch this on dvd check out the short film by itself, it has some additional moments not featured in the full length film. There's commentary by co-writer/co-producer/editor/director Randall Miller, co-writer/co-producer Jody Savin (wife of Miller), and actor Elden Henson (who appears in the film and was in the original 1990 short). Everyone gives great performances and the music is terrific. Don't expect the a typical dance film when watching this because it is so much more than that. It's a movie that. It's a movie about loss, love, recindling, and yes dancing too.

I particularly enjoyed the way that this film told a story in and out of sequence. The manner for which it flowed was out of the ordinary, which gripped the audiences attention and kept it there consistently. This is what fine story telling on film is all about.
The writing was well accomplished with a sense of depth and emotion to each character's personal struggles.
This story is about moving on despite life's difficulties and is enriched by the talents of all who were involved in this production. Great cast, great technical qualities...a good, solid film.

I never heard of this movie until recommended by Amazon. Looked it up and
noticed it stars Robert Carlyle, an actor I have liked since I saw The Full Monty. It is very sweet and charming but also has a sad story. It certainly kept me entertained.

"Dance is a very powerful drug" Starts Miss Marienne Hotchkiss."If embraced judiciously it can exorcise demos,access deep-seated emotion and color your life in joyous shades of brilliant magenta that you never knew existed."Miss Hotchkiss concludes,"But one must shoulder its challenges with intrepid countenance if one is to reap its rewards.Are you up to it?"

MISS HOTCHKISS' BALLROOM DANCING AND CHARM SCHOOL is a most unusual look at "guilt as a worthless emotion" and breaking free of the perceived nostalgic memories of the past in order to move forward with life.For many, life stops when a missed opportunity plunges us into regret when we choose the left path instead of the right path.That path may lead us into years of emptiness,loneliness and regret where we fail to connect with another human being.For the folks in this unconventional look at locked away emotion, life has the chance to start anew with the learned-by-wrote introduction "May I have this dance,Miss" and the appropriate response "I'd be enchanted,Sir!".

MARILYN HOTCHKISS is a charming and heart-wrenching look at the 1960's charm school that was to teach children their first and proper introduction into the world of etiquette and social interaction.What is particularly unique about this present 2006 arthouse release is that it is the expanded version of the 1990 short film by the same title.Whereas the original short focused on the pre-pubescent look at the girl/boy-love/hate angst,this present rendering has the adult situation to the same angst 40 years later.Largely,this is accomplished with great success as actors John Goodman,Robert Carlyle,Marissa Tomei and Mary Steenburgen bring to life the fortysomething crowd who,just as children needed Miss Hotchkiss' initial prodding to life and love,so to these middle-agers,stuck at a crossroads of regret and emptiness, still need that first introduction of "May I have" and "Yes I would".

The "new story" is built around a collision that Frank Keane,a widowed "son of a son of a son of a baker" (Carlyle of THE FULL MONTY) witnesses enroute to delivering bread.Keane has become a regret-filled shadow of himself.Meeting Steve Mills (John Goodman) who has nearly cut himself in two in this single car wreck, Keane must keep Mills from going into shock by keeping him talking.Mills was on his way to keep a standing 40-year appointment at Miss Hotchkiss' Charm School and so begins his story of his past (which is the original 1990 short) that has great and lasting implications on Keane's life.Through this encounter. Keane goes to the Charm School to meet the girl that Mills had promised to meet. Once he arrives there, Keane is introduced to the "lonely hearts" of the Ballroom Dancing set.But as dance once unlocked the world of sexual awakening, now too does the "powerful drug" of the merengue, the Lindy Hop and the box-step reopen long closed doors to life and love.

This film could still use a little more polish in the blending seamlessly of the two narratives,but for that fault only, this is a beautifully rendered look at how people allow innocence to slip away and to let "guilt,a worthless emotion" to take its place.There is a world of things to think about in this sweet piece of a film that is full of sincerity and honest emotion.

The DVD contains both the widescreen and standard screen presentation, as well as a marvelous commentary AND the original 1990 short film.This is a film that is highly original and gets all the more "charming" each time you step up to the line and extend your hand and utter, "May I have this dance?.4 and 15/16 stars****+

This DVD's been released for a couple of years. It's already been competently précised by other reviewers. Overwhelmingly, they seem to admire it - as do I. Rather than cover already familiar ground, I'd prefer to take issue with several misplaced criticisms:

1) The "off-putting" title: Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School

Anyone claiming the title is "off-putting" needs to cultivate more curiosity in picking their DVDs. That's not to mention recognizing the potential for good-natured satire which abounds in this movie.

Ballroom Dancing and Charm School conventions ARE stilted and pretentious. Young people dread and deride them but (true to the film) they still sign up.

Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School's mediocrity and artificial conventions are hilariously but nevertheless sensitively spoofed. It's wry humor never descends to slapstick.

The subtle parallels between "British Bulldog" and the sexes retreating behind the Blue and Pink lines on either side of the hall were a real hoot.

Another delight was Marienne acknowledging her late mother at the beginning of each session, not to mention Frank Keane enrolling his friends from the "Dead Wives'Club" (if I heard correctly). This group was seriously under performing in terms of bereavement healing. Again, one suspects a gentle commentary on group therapy per se. .

As children, teenagers and adults, many of us have been to Dance Academies and their ilk. I met my wife at one. This movie cleverly interweaves the comedy with the drama and the positive, socializing and therapeutic processes which can emerge. As young adults, one of the best ones in our area was run by the North Sydney Police Boys' Club.

The DVD's title actually attracted my interest. As soon as I checked it wasn't a blood fest, I was hooked.


2) Marienne Hotchkiss can't dance properly, etc:

Surely, this was the point. Experts making this criticism flaunt erudition at the expense of recognizing the reality of their local Dances.


3) Unnecessarily cluttered ending:

One couldn't disagree more. Just when viewers thought they were on top of it all and heading towards a Hollywood "walking off into the sunset" finale, a lovely little cameo emerges. It throws one of the main protagonists into an intriguing and completely different context. It was a clever and unexpected touch. The contrast with Steve's boyhood promise mischievously puts "Charm Schooling" under re-examination as the movie concludes.

4) The flashbacks were confusing:

What was the alternative? One of the movie's important strengths was an insightful ability to both parallel and contrast the many adult characters with their formative past.

Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School is a gem. It's wry, quirky and insightful. It's original and memorable. If there's any weakness it's the slightly surreal introduction of Robert Carlyle as Frank Keane, the romantic lead. For the first few minutes I thought I'd picked a dud. This was partly due to the cinematography but the story quickly got on track especially when the viewer was spared the detail another spectacular car crash. Any movie where the car crash takes place out of sight, is OK by me, especially when it's a Volvo.