Single parent romances have always rehearsed the same narrative but Cooper Raiff has finally brought the much needed change in the concept.
The trailer of Cha Cha Real Smooth does provoke a lot of memories of a typical cliche romance movie. The man moves through life relationship devoid until he meets an autistic child, gets close to her mother, and it’s happy ever after. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
But this is no ordinary love story because Cooper Raiff is anything but ordinary. In Shithouse, his character is simple Andrew is a 22 year old college grad struggling to find purpose in his life. Just graduated English and looking to ignore the world in his hands because it seems futile. He moved back home to his dysfunctional family stepfather, mother and a little brother.
Andrew is Susie’s son and an aspiring “culinary genius” a “loveable dork” with ambition which “does not go unrecognized.” He does get offers to ‘help out’ at Jewish Bar Mitzvahs as a DJ.
On the way to a Dilma’s mother’s work, Andrew becomes mesmerized by the mother-daughter duo comprising of a quiet thirty something year old woman with autism as well as the daughter. Andrew is deeply impressed by Lola and seeks to become more and more entwined relationships with the comradery. However, the mother of the family seems to be bound by the presence of her lawyer future wife.
There is something inherently revolting in the misplaced praise, not in Andrew’s kindness toward Lola but his hero worship Cha Cha Real Smooth is a lovely story about accepting the enjoyable realities in this life.
The film avoids the cliches of blending a single parent’s life with the romance, and treats the single struggling mother and the single neuro divergent teen with their own narrative arcs that are outside of Andrew. The bachelor’s degree doesn’t see himself as the knight in shining armor roles coming to rescue them all. He might be, in fact, the one needing rescues
“Have I already peaked?” An old friend from high school asks Andrew after a casual sexual encounter one evening. Mirroring Andrew’s inner turmoil, she bluntly says that her job is worse than “insane”, she is insane as well for doing something as stupid as selling her time. These two, having disillusioned of enduring the harsh post university life, are doomed to empathically represent their generation.
For many Gen Z’ers, the characters’ sense of aimlessness in a transitory phase will strike a chord, as will the struggles Andrew faces that of addressing his need to step back to figure himself out while being torn between his yearn for the harmony that both Domino and Lola promise.
Andrew’s devotion to Lola is instantaneous, however, he can also be seen as naively fantasizing about what it would be like to become part of the family. It’s not that he is entirely delusional as well: Johnson and Raiff are clearly attractive together, and the characters share several tender moments. But turning to the disquieting ambiguity of their relationship exasperates Andrew’s worse shortcomings.
Raiff has included a feature in Andrew’s addiction to alcohol and overstepping a line that some may consider a fault, but as shown, it was fruitful in the grand scheme of things. However, the need to present him as the ‘nice guy’ leads Raiff into taking attention away from the main focus of the film and instead onto Andrew’s funny one liners and awkward moments. A lot of scenes in the movie must have been edited as they took the focus away from the major ideas presented in the narrative.
The best part is, the final message concludes the movie in a twist. It is Raiff’s comedy drama who tells its younger viewers not to be embarrassed of changes while also preventing older viewers from neglecting themselves. Sparkling with humor yet quite realistic, Cha Cha Real Smooth is at once a funny, sweet and charming movie that never overstays its welcome.
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