Strictly Ballroom

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Product Reviews

(5 stars) - Strictly Ballroom
I had seen this movie on TV twice, but never in its entirety. I was happy to have found it available at Amazon.com. I can now watch it anytime.

(5 stars) - Great film, a splendid fable
(Five stars for the film, three for the DVD quality). I first watched this movie in the 1990s (taped from Bravo) and loved this movie so much that I watched it eight times in one week. Every time I see this film, it makes me very happy. It's a light-hearted fable about letting go of fear, living your own path regardless of what others think. To be honest, I think it's the best of his "red curtain trilogy" (Romeo and Juliet and Mulan Rouge). I k

Although the storyline is fantastic, the DVD is lacking. There are no extras. It would helped had there been an interview with Baz Luhrman about this movie, or with members of the cast, etc;. The only "extras" are the "sneak peeks" at the studio's new films. Blah. Also, I think that the picture and sound quality need to be remastered.

(5 stars) - Strickly Ballroom
If you love dancing this is a great movie to watch just for the dancing. But it's funny as well! A Cinderella story, warms the heart.

(1 stars) - Ballroom Dancer is Disappointed
I am a ballroom dancer and I think this was a horrible movie due to the following reasons ...

Storyline is cliché:
- Dance protégé is bored with accepted dance moves and wants to invent his own moves
- Ugly duckling with two left feet becomes prodigy's new partner and becomes a beautiful graceful dancer

Dancing was not spectacular:
- The "new" moves that the protagonist does come up with is not actually new, he's just incorporating modern dance into social dance
- What little social dancing footage there is is interrupted and so we never get to see a complete dance sequence
- The social dancing that is done is expertly done but nothing worth calling home about

Costume, makeup, and hairstyles were just painful to look at:
- Too much unwarranted skin exposure (are we at the beach or on the dance floor?)
- Too gaudy (colors are loud and dissonant)
- Mohawks do no look good on women

Baz Luhrmann was not at his best in making Strictly Ballroom. You do see one good shot of the two lovers in front of a sparkling red Coca-Cola billboard and another stunning shot of the two of then dancing in front of a white curtain with pink backlighting, but other than those two shots, the rest of the cinematography was mediocre.

For a better sample of amazing work by Baz Luhrmann try Moulin Rouge or Romeo & Juliet.

Better ballroom dance films to watch are Dirty Dancing and Shall We Dansu? Make sure you get the originals and not the later versions.

(3 stars) - Those Blasted Ballroom Dancing Rules!
Here's a different kind of story: mocking the ultra-seriousness of ballroom dancing, at least among people in Australia, where the film was made. The strict rules, perhaps, are mocked as much as the people involved.

Once again, it's the clichéd story of a rebel who is the good guy and the establishment who are the bad people. (Will filmmakers ever get themselves out of the 1960s?)

Add some stupid humor, a very annoying lead woman (the mother of the star dancer), and a predictable storyline and you have another overrated critics' favorite, although it's still worth a rental. The good parts of the film are the colorful dancers and general cinematography. The dancing is excellent, too. For all the latter, I give it three stars.

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