Bleatings from the Sheep

"Strictly Ballroom" (Friday Movie Night)

This past Friday was the first time I went to one of the Movie Nights. I knew I’d make it to one of ‘em eventually, and as it turns out, I chose a pretty good one to go to. It’s strange but I really enjoyed “Strictly Ballroom”…it was such a fun movie!

First of all, let’s start with the basic premise: Young man is considered to be a ballroom legend. Said young man then decides to add his “own moves” into his dance routine, which causes an uproar among the…uh…ballroom dancing elite? His dancing partner, who is only concerned with winning titles and trophies, decides to quit, leaving him with only several weeks to find a new partner before the big competition. He finds said needed partner in a frumpy-ish beginning dancer, who almost miraculously goes from being fairly awkward to an amazing dancer in just that short amount of time. This in itself causes even more of an uproar, and some more conflict occurs, but in the end, it all works out. Oh, and of course, the two main characters fall in love. Because the movie wasn’t already cheesy enough.

But that’s what made it all so wonderful! At points, it was a very cheesy movie…but I think it meant to be cheesy at those points. In some respects, it was mocking itself, or at least the topic at hand. But surprisingly enough it was still an interesting story. I genuinely wanted to see how it all turned out in the end. Deep down, I knew that things would be fine, that everyone would be happy in the end, and that love and dancing would conquer all (and I seriously can’t believe I just typed that last line with a straight face…). But there was still that vague inkling of, “Wow, I wonder how this is gonna work out…” that kept me focused.

Plus, like I said, it was just really fun to watch.

I don’t think I could analyze this any deeper, because I don’t think there’s really any way to do so to begin with. Honestly, even if there were a deeper meaning to it all, I wouldn’t want to know it. It would spoil the movie a great deal. The fact is that I found it very entertaining (imagine that…entertainment that was actually entertaining…) and watching it made me happy; so much so that I’d really just like to leave it at that. After all, sometimes I think that should be enough.

posted by Caitlynn @ 10:00 PM