Four teen boys on the football team from their all-boys Catholic school in Belfast are girl obsessed. Mickey wants to be a fashion designer. Gary wants to be a magician. Spike wants to be a mercenary. Danny is serious about football and takes dance class to improve his footwork. He is taken with star dance pupil and rich Protestant girl Lucy McCloughlin (Keri Russell). Her boyfriend is a football rival. Her father Sidney McLoughlin (Brian Cox) owns a chain of stores and is a well-known TV personality.It's a rather thin teen rom-com. Keri Russell does some accent work. Her character is self-centered and off-putting. The boy is sweet but not that exciting and a bit dumb. Maybe I'm missing some of the local humor. The movie has a bit of fun but needs more comedy. It's all rather sweet and safe. If this is a bunch of nobodies, this could work as a sweet low-key indie. Keri Russell does throw me off. I'm expecting more heat, more chemistry, more comedy, and more of everything.

I don't know why everyone is so negative about this film. We just saw it on video and I really liked it. OK, so I don't know that much about dancing and what is what but apart from some cringe moments (like at the competition), I really really liked it!! Really good feel-good movie... My fav parts are when they dance in the pool and the final end dance.. ;o) He shows a lot of emotion and I guess it just brought me back to those highschool crushes.. those moments when it was just so.. wow... ;o)Really inspired us to take up dancing lessons again.. anyway, just a really fun feel-good movie and that fashion-concious friend was wonderful!! Maybe I just haven't been around enough Irish but I thought the accents were OK.. at least we could actually understand them!!

This was one of the less publicised dance-based films that surfaced in the past few years. And it's quite a shame that it didn't get more publicity, as it was one of the better ones. While the likes of Centre Stage has pretensions of grandeur, and Bootmen is a mild emotional letdown, Mad About Mambo offers an uncomplicated, fairly convincing love story, set against the beautiful backdrop of Ireland, and blended with some tasteful scenes of dance.In fact, it is Danny and Lucy's dance sequences that charm the most. Unlike numerous other movies that have tried to make things appear as glitzy and glamorous as possible (Centre Stage again), these moments are a stripped down, purely romantic affair. Note that when they dance in the middle of the stadium, lights are dimmed and we barely see anything aside from these two characters. The only problem I had with the main love story is that while convincing, it develops too quickly. The writers could have easily added a little more in the early parts of Danny and Lucy's relationship without boring the audiences, as the film is quite short.William Ash fares well as Danny, but Keri Russell's feisty female lead, Lucy, is probably the biggest highlight of the film. That, and the one of Danny's friends who aspires to run his own fashion house.Recommended for dance junkies and anyone who enjoys a light-hearted romantic comedy, but be warned that while it's quite charming, there isn't really a key point to the film that will hold it in your memory for long afterwards.Grade: B

The movie isn't bad. It's a decent story, but I wouldn't have paid to see it.I have to say I'm a bit impressed by Keri Russell's Irish accent. Not perfect, but not bad for an American. I personally can't do one at all, but hers wasn't bad. A few slips here and there.The story is pretty good in a lot of ways, but isn't atypical of the kind of storyline they're producing.I think some people were a little too concerned with the dance aspect, but the acting was terrific. I think Keri Russell is a very professional and believable actress.There were some technical "mistakes", for example, Luis Miguel singing "La Gloria es Tu", which is Spanish, and the Mambo is Brazilian and really goes more with Brazilian music, which of course would be in Portuguese.Still, overall, I liked the movie. I give it a 7.