Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School Critic Reviews

This film does other power-of-dance movies one better by downplaying the dancing and underscoring what its brethren often lack: a compelling, wrenching and wonderfully inspiring story.Read the full review

As absorbingly weird and dark and sad as the film becomes, it still labors against jumpy construction, an irritating variety of visual styles and film stocks, and a crowded story that no one gets much individual screen time, which means that redemption for everyone comes far too quickly and neatly.Read the full review

The adults at the Hotchkiss reunion are played by an assortment of splendid actors.Read the full review

The story is corny and predictable, but Carlyle's subtle, nuanced performance saves the movie from drowning in sentimentality.Read the full review

I wish I could say there is something pleasurable in watching John Goodman reminisce about the good old days while impaled on a steering wheel in the Volvo he's crashed on a California freeway, but I can't find what it is.Read the full review

The film is an elegiac journey to a sweeter, more civilized place in the heart. Predictable and decidedly old-fashioned in its sensibility, the film is likely to win over audiences if not critics.Read the full review

Really, about all that unifies the movie is its inclination to turn little people's dreams into limply ''affectionate'' camp.Read the full review

Despite a gloriously baroque performance from Mr. Wahlberg - attempting moves certified only for Antonio Banderas - Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School remains irredeemably soggy.Read the full review

An attempt at a beautiful film about renewal -- about past love, love lost, longing and rediscovery -- but it has no emotional truth.Read the full review