A young man who works as a Bar Mitzvah party host strikes up a friendship with a mother and her autistic daughter.A young man who works as a Bar Mitzvah party host strikes up a friendship with a mother and her autistic daughter.A young man who works as a Bar Mitzvah party host strikes up a friendship with a mother and her autistic daughter.
- Awards
- 6 wins & 14 nominations total
Amara Pedroso
- Maya
- (as Amara Pedroso Saquel)
Brooklyn Ramirez
- Margaret
- (as Brooklyn Sloane Ramirez)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I wasn't expecting anything when I watched this movie but turns out I just got a big warm hug from it. Cha Cha Real Smooth is the pure heartfelt, sincere, and heartwarming I have ever felt from watching a movie this year. It's a bittersweet coming-of-age movie about a 22-year-old Andrew (Cooper Raiff), fresh out of college and stuck at his home without a clear path forward, he begins working as a party starter where he strikes up a friendship with a young mom (Dakota Johnson) and her teenage daughter.
You will never walk out the same after watching this movie and that's what I liked about it. Cooper Raiff is such a talented and gifted director, what makes him different from most of the directors is how he is genuinely capable of being related to the audience on a personal level. He is engaging not only how the way he directed it but also in how he writes it, and to add, played the character. The story is what I needed right now, the dialogues are just simply beautiful and touching. (Mind me, I also just got fresh out from the college lol)
Dakota Johnson's performance as a supporting actress is breathtaking and their chemistry is absolutely striking. I almost feel like the entire time of the movie they just let the eyes do the speaking, and it's working. My memories aren't going anywhere, especially for this movie. I can't wait to see more of Cooper Raiff's work in the future. Definitely a must-see.
You will never walk out the same after watching this movie and that's what I liked about it. Cooper Raiff is such a talented and gifted director, what makes him different from most of the directors is how he is genuinely capable of being related to the audience on a personal level. He is engaging not only how the way he directed it but also in how he writes it, and to add, played the character. The story is what I needed right now, the dialogues are just simply beautiful and touching. (Mind me, I also just got fresh out from the college lol)
Dakota Johnson's performance as a supporting actress is breathtaking and their chemistry is absolutely striking. I almost feel like the entire time of the movie they just let the eyes do the speaking, and it's working. My memories aren't going anywhere, especially for this movie. I can't wait to see more of Cooper Raiff's work in the future. Definitely a must-see.
This was the other film I was privileged to see during Sundance and it's most likely gonna go down as one of my favorites of the year. Cha Cha Real Smooth has more of a personal connection to me with how it treats leaving home while you still have a younger sibling there. It really resonated with me and I'm not ashamed to say that the final scene of the film almost made me cry. It hit very close to home. The performances here are great. Major props to Cooper Raiff for Directing, Writing, and starring in this because the writing and his performance were fantastic. His direction was pretty good but the writing and acting outshined it. His character feels very realistic. He gets in over his head a lot but tries his best to make others feel happy and he usually succeeds at it. Dakota Johnson did a great job as well along with Vanessa Burghardt who plays her daughter. All of these characters that Raiff wrote are great. They feel personal and well thought out and play a major impact into the story. As you can tell, it was the characters and writing that really sold me for this film because those aspects genuinely are fantastic. The music and editing were good but really weren't anything that special. I would highly recommend checking this film out whenever it hits theaters or streaming services if you want a more personal kind of story.
It's a classic indie film and that's a plus in my book! It's a really nice story and it's perfectly directed, Cooper Raiff did an excellent job! There are some really joyful and humorous moments, really liked Raiff's sense of humour and there also some touching scenes, in particular the one where Raiff and Johnson talk about depression (I cried my eyes out during that scene)! Though I'd like to notify that there's a cringe dialogue between them in another scene later in the movie too! All in all, the movie is definitely worth watching if you love the combination of sentimental and funny!
This is a very heartwarming film. Cooper Raiff was very charming as the lead, and he literally carried this whole movie on his back. I was surprised to find out he was the director, producer, and editor in addition to being the lead actor. I also love Dakota Johnson's hot streak of delivering great back to back performances in The Lost Daughter and Cha Cha Real Smooth. This is currently my favorite movie of 2022.
It was a very sweet movie. Made me laugh as well. Glad it didn't have the ending some would've wanted. Not really sure where all the hate comes in, or how this movie has ruined weekends. It was a good enough movie that you didn't have to pay extra for, that's for sure!
Did you know
- TriviaShooting took place mainly in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- GoofsWhile Andrew is being interviewed for HLAF, although the interviewer is off camera you can still see his right hand raising toward his mouth. However in the next cut, a closeup of the interviewer, it is the left hand that's covering his mouth.
- Quotes
Andrew: What's it like being depressed?
Domino: I don't know. It feels like... like you remember what better feels like and then you do things that you think will make you feel better but they don't. They make it worse. And the things that I'm really scared of doing are probably the things that will help me the most, but I just can't do them.
- SoundtracksThe Show Goes On
Written by Lupe Fiasco (as Wasalu Jaco), Isaac Brock, Dann Gallucci, Eric Judy, Jonathan Keith Brown, Kane Beatz (as Daniel Johnson), and Dustin Brower
Performed by Lupe Fiasco
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Cha Cha Real Smooth, ¡a bailar!
- Filming locations
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 47 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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