It doesn’t matter that it’s a cliché. It doesn’t matter that it’s predictable. It doesn’t matter that the story is a well-worn hat. The only thing that matters is it works, and it works so charmingly well.

Despite funding and distribution obstacles, not to mention the death of his producer before production even started, first time film director Baz Luhrmann brings heart and humor to the screen in perfect proportion.

It’s hard to pinpoint why something works so well … Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally is another example .. but it’s a confluence of all the film arts, and also the right actors bringing the characters to the screen. Leads Paul Mercurio and Tera Morice just fit like hand…

I recall being a pre-teen when I first saw Baz Luhrmann’s debut film, Strictly Ballroom; impressionable and impressed was I by the garish neon-hued costumes, the brash Australian accents, and the campiness of everything from the ballroom competition storyline to the performances of its obscure cast. The first of Luhrmann’s “Red Curtain Trilogy”, Strictly Ballroom is set within the cutthroat world of dancesport, where rising star, open amateur Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) is on the precipice of winning his first Pan Pacific Grand Prix title—only he wants to abandon regulations and dance his own original steps, much to the chagrin of federation President Barry Fife and his own mother, retired dancer cum cosmetics consultant Shirley Hastings (in a spirited performance…

"He resorted to his own flashy, crowd-pleasing steps."

Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom is a trifling prance through the hothouse Australian competitive dance scene. The scenario manages something of a feat by being both convoluted and predictable. Scott (Paul Mercurio) is a skillful but unorthodox dancer with a browbeating stage mother and a cowed, insecure father. Abandoned by his shrill dancing partner on account of his maverick sensibility, he learns to trust his instinct that free expression means more than competitive glory by mentoring another heretical hoofer for the upcoming competition; sparks fly when his protege transforms from depressed-Mia-Farrow-in-the-1980s-with-bad-skin to suddenly being really hot. With their union (romantic and professional) all but certain fate intervenes in the form of a sought-after…

Although Baz Luhrmann and I broke up back in 2001 when that colossal musical turd Moulin Rouge was released, I can still recall the night 9 years earlier when I sorta, kinda fell in love with his peculiar style of Antipodean filmmaking, while watching this at the old Uptown Theater in Minneapolis. It was loud, brash, unbearably stupid, filled with romantic clichés, hilariously funny in spots, and chockablock with great dance moves. As the curtain fell at the end, I, along with the rest of the audience gave it a standing ovation. I felt as if I had been truly entertained.

Watching it twenty-eight years later, with an admittedly more jaundiced eye, I still found it quite diverting and amusing…

Although Baz Luhrmann and I broke up back in 2001 when that colossal musical turd Moulin Rouge was released, I can still recall the night 9 years earlier when I sorta, kinda fell in love with his peculiar style of Antipodean filmmaking, while watching this at the old Uptown Theater in Minneapolis. It was loud, brash, unbearably stupid, filled with romantic clichés, hilariously funny in spots, and chockablock with great dance moves. As the curtain fell at the end, I, along with the rest of the audience gave it a standing ovation. I felt as if I had been truly entertained.

Watching it twenty-eight years later, with an admittedly more jaundiced eye, I still found it quite diverting and amusing…