Image: Big Talk Productions
There are a multitude of films that came out in time for the 14th of February this year that are still in cinemas; the Lego Movie, Her, the Monuments Men, and Cuban Fury. The question is which one do you spend your lack of money on? Well, you certainly could do worse than this.
Cuban Fury stars Nick Frost as Bruce Garrett, a former salsa prodigy who stopped loving dancing after being attacked by a group of schoolboys, but is inspired to take it up again when he discovers his beautiful American boss (Rashida Jones) is a salsa lover. Moving away from his well known pairing with Simon Pegg (who has a short and unsurprising cameo here), Frost is playing the straight man and the others around him are the eccentrics. Chris O’Dowd is Drew, ‘the other man’ also vying for the boss’ affections. Olivia Colman is Bruce’s sister, proving yet again she has a superb range between drama and comedy, while Kayvan Novak from Fonejacker plays one of Bruce’s salsa friends, stealing every scene he’s in.
The cast is impressive, a mash up of actors from various comedy TV shows, but the film takes a while to warm up and get going. The jokes at the beginning are a little flat footed and rely heavily on Drew’s nastiness and the pity we should feel for Bruce, who is in his late 30’s, overweight and lonely. However, when the dancing starts it picks up, Frost putting his penchant for physical comedy to good use, and by the time the dance-off in the parking lot occurs it is genuinely funny, rivalling Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones’ Diary for men looking like idiots fighting over a woman. Irritatingly we do have another case of best-jokes-are-in-the-trailer, which means some lines lack the kick they otherwise would have had.
Cuban Fury also has a message here that can’t be ignored; Bruce is afraid to put himself out there and dance in case he is laughed at and is even embarrassed at doing an Al-Pacino impression. It tells us to just go for it, no matter how much it may scare us, so if you’re a fan of British comedy television and you fancy something fun with a pick-me-up message then this will be money well spent.
Elizabeth Galey