"Finding Purpose in Life"
None | Light | Moderate | Heavy | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Language | ||||
Violence | ||||
Sex | ||||
Nudity |
What You Need To Know:
CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH has some funny, heartwarming moments, but the plot moves slowly, and the dialogue is sometimes boring. It has a Romantic worldview about chasing your dreams and focusing on romantic love. This is mitigated by some moral elements stressing compassion, family and finding purpose. Sadly, CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH has about 20 “f” words, two strong profanities, some drunkenness, and a gratuitous bedroom scene. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
Content:
More Detail:
CHA CHAREAL SMOOTH is a comedy on Apple TV Plus about an under-employed college graduate who works as a Bar Mitzvah party host and strikes up a friendship with a mother and her autistic teenage daughter. CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH is funny and heartwarming in places, but it moves too slowly, the dialogue drags in places and there’s about 20 “f” words, two strong profanities, some drunkenness, and a gratuitous bedroom scene. So, extreme caution is advised.
The movie stars Cooper Raiff as the college graduate, Andrew. (Raiff also wrote and directed the movie.) Andrew has a girlfriend, Maya, and wants to follow her to Spain. However, he has a dead-end job at a fast-food restaurant in a mall while caring for his mom who’s struggling with bi-polar mental health issues.
Andrew escorts his brother to a Jewish bar mitzvah and meets Domino, the mother of an autistic teenager named Lola. After a great night, where he helps bring Lola out of her shell, he gets hired to be a “party starter,” who’s responsible for making sure everyone has a good time at a party. He wants the job so he can have enough money to go to Maya to Spain. However, Lola wants him to become her new sitter. When Andrew gets to know Lola’s mother, Domino, those plans begin to change. However, Domino informs Andrew she’s engaged and unwilling to break off her engagement.
While defending Lola at a party, Andrew is asked to leave, but he finds out Domino has had a miscarriage in the bathroom. Andrew helps her to her car and keeps her tarnished reputation intact – for now.
Domino, rumored to have slept with several people at the school, isn’t the favorite of many parents. Andrew and Domino’s feelings about being an outcast lead them to form a bond. They become closer, but Joseph, Domino’s fiancée, wants to break them apart, So, he tells Andrew he can’t be Lola’s sitter anymore.
[SPOILERS FOLLOW] Andrew tells Domino he loves her and doesn’t want her to get married. However, she says he’s too young for her and doesn’t want to pursue a relationship with him. Although he’s rejected, he channels his care for Lola and Domino into working as a mentor for special needs teenagers. He moves out of his mother’s home and chooses not to go to Spain but live life with a newfound independence.
CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH has a coming of age feel to it. The audience watches as Andrew blossoms from a young man who has no plans and no love life to someone who becomes more self-assured and finds purpose to his life.
The cinematography is simple. Often shot with single camera angles and sometimes dark lighting, the use of lights and cameras is not the highlight of the movie. The plot is also a bit slow moving. It can leave the audience bored and ready for the plot to move forward. The dialogue also sometimes drags in parts. Andrew treats Lola like an adult rather than a child, which is a positive element for the movie. However, the dialogue between them sometimes sounds robotic rather than engaging.
The movie’s worldview is Romantic as its main theme is to chase after your dreams, but there is some moral content stressing compassion, family and helping other people, including people in need. This eventually leads to a relatively positive ending.
However, CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH has about 30 “f” words, two strong profanities, a sex scene, and other lewd references. Also, a woman has a bloody miscarriage in a bathroom. Finally, CHA CHA has some drunkenness and a fight scene. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.