Cha Cha Real Smooth: The indie hit is much too shallow and naïve

Cha Cha Real SmoothCooper Raiff tries to be sincere. The second feature by writer-director-actor Cooper Raiff (after 2020’s Shithouse) is a coming-of-age narrative that doesn’t feature any outward villains and doesn’t judge any of its characters. Andrew Raiff (the protagonist) has a similarity to Benjamin Braddock. The GraduateHis college graduation was a shock. He had no clue what his future would hold. If he wants to be loved, this is his last summer as a teenager.

It is the story of a 23 year-old who wrote and directed it. This is the reality. Cha Cha Real Smooth’s truest virtue (blissful naïveté) and its grandest flaw — a blithering unawareness of reality. It’s a film defined by its myopic, narrow bandwidth.

ShithouseA college comedy about a single freshman trying to find friends. With Cha Cha Real SmoothRaiff advances the timeline a bit to help him navigate an old post-graduate malaise. Andrew returns home with his loving mom, Leslie Mann (Brad Garrett), and his laconic stepfather Greg (Brad Garrett). His days are spent at Meat Sticks fast food restaurant, while his nights spend sleeping in the bed of David Assante, his nerdy little brother. Andrew, particularly older more mature women, has had bad luck in the past with women. A charming, young scene shows Andrew as a preteen approaching a woman following a bar mitzvah. He is politely let down by her. Andrew’s college sweetheart, who was his college best friend, has fled to Europe 10 years later. Andrew is distraught and unsure if he should follow her or continue on.

Photo by Apple TV Plus

After a few local New Jersey moms notice Andrew’s bacchanalian talents, he becomes a party-starter for bar and bat mitzvahs. The liminal settings provide a fascinating frame for Andrew’s maturation, and bring him into contact with the enchanting Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). Andrew sees himself as a white knight, and he quickly embeds himself in Domino’s world as a savior. But life isn’t so simple, a lesson the film is begging to teach Andrew. Raiff, however, feels unequipped to convey that message in this simple story..

In a knottier film, Andrew would be the villain, pursuing Domino although he knows she’s engaged to Joseph (Raúl Castillo). But Joseph is always traveling, and he doesn’t seem like a good guy; he’s cold and jealous and often belittles Domino. Andrew also knows Domino is battling depression, and in some ways, he believes they can fix each other’s apparent loneliness. Lola is his brother and he uses bar and bat mitzvahs to help him see Domino.

Raiff attempts to be both genuinely kind and selfish but it is only that feeling that comes across. Raiff doesn’t play Andrew with a malicious bone in his body; his awkward self-insertion in Domino’s life is a mistake by a dumb kid who doesn’t know any better. But that’s a big pill to swallow, at least for viewers cynical enough to question the ways Raiff excuses his character’s behavior.

It doesn’t help that Raiff isn’t a particularly captivating lead. Andrew is too messy for Raiff’s range. The late-night conversations Andrew and Domino share, where they spill their inner fears and express soft intimacy, don’t entirely capture the inherent sensual danger of these scenes, mostly because Raiff has only one expression: surprise. In heavier scenes, his character doesn’t ring as true.

Too often, in Raiff’s script, the emotions are cosmetic. Apart from Domino, the characters say exactly what’s on their mind. Raiff is stressed on topics like bullying and mental illness, although he does seem genuine to care about them. However, these thoughts are almost only covered as check boxes in the movie. Raiff isn’t really interested in Domino’s personhood, so viewers learn nothing concrete about her marriage. There’s a selfishness to his gaze that’s intended, and should engender complicated interpretations of him. Raiff doesn’t want to be able to see Andrew’s ugly side.

Photo by Apple TV Plus

Raiff’s narrative is bloated — the movie runs 107 minutes, a solid 15 of which could easily be cut — but it does have some charm. Burghardt provides Lola with a rich inner life, Assante is a wonky ham who’s so uncool it’s adorable, and the stoic Garrett never misses. But none of these, despite the actors’ best efforts, ever feel like real people, least of all Domino, who’s more a vibe than a person. No one reacts as you’d expect them to. The movie’s emotional prods result in an uncontrollable combustion when Joseph confronts Andrew. It’s another example of Raiff liking Andrew too much to fully interrogate his transgressions. Instead, Raiff turns to some false endings which further cement his character of being empathetic and misguided.

It’s clear why so many critics have found Cha Cha Real Smooth endearing: It’s comfort cinema. No sharp judgements are made, and no questioning that digs beneath the surface is allowed. These elementary truths are wrapped around viewers like blankets, reminding them that the world is cold, but also how warmer it can get with more people. But Andrew isn’t that better person. And the film’s unwillingness to wholly grapple with that reality brings Cha Cha Real Smooth To a grinding halt

Cha Cha Real SmoothIt will debut on Apple TV Plus and limited theatrical releases.