I didn't know how to take this movie at first. It almost looked like it was mocking the very idea of a serious dance competition, in much the same way that "Little Miss Sunshine" cast an utterly suspicious eye on the whole concept of beauty contests for little girls. It looked like director Baz Luhrman was taking a shot at every single character in the movie, and in a way I guess he was, because when things settled out, the superficial characters were all put in their place and the couple that remained true to their ideals were the last pair left standing. Interestingly, dancers Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) and partner Fran (Tara Morice) weren't very charismatic when it came to performing their routines, but because they were freewheeling it so to speak, they happened to stand out among the rest of their competitors. Personally, I didn't find their style to be all that antithetical to what the rigid judges expected. You would think a little innovation would have been welcomed instead of having every couple adhere to a narrowly defined dancing structure.What I liked best about the picture was the back story of Scott's father (Barry Otto), who's own career was derailed when he attempted to do what his own son was was trying to accomplish using his own style. With the entire dynamic of Doug Hastings' career and relationship with his wife (Pat Thomson) put into perspective, it wasn't much of a stretch to figure out that Scott would make up his mind, in the words of Barry Fife (Bill Hunter), to 'do the right thing'. Ultimately, for Doug and son Scott, "...it was the dancing that mattered".As a quick aside, I was constantly kept distracted by the appearance of champion dancer Ken Railings (John Hannan) in the picture. More so in the beginning of the film, because whenever he took to the dance floor he looked the spitting image of pro wrestler Ric Flair, and under the circumstances, I expected that whenever he completed one of his flourishing dance moves, he would come out with a loud and glorious "Whoo"!

Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) is tapped to be the next champion (at least by his mother) when the reigning champs Ken Railings and Tina Sparkle box in Scott and his partner Liz Holt (Gia Carides). Scott starts doing flamboyant crowd-pleasing steps to get out of the corner but it's not Strictly Ballroom. Australian Dance Federation President Barry Fife (Bill Hunter) is not pleased and Scott loses. Liz leaves Scott to join Ken Railings. Scott's mother Shirley is the ballroom dance instructor, and his meek father Doug does the maintenance at the studio. Frumpy beginner Fran (Tara Morice) loves Scott's new dance moves. While they try out new partners for Scott, he is practicing with Fran.Baz Luhrmann is doing a surreal spoof of a dance movie with some very broad almost slapstick comedy. There is some joy and fun laughing at the characters. The only problem is the formulaic story. It is clawing and almost uncomfortable in its unnerving following. As usual, the frumpy girl is wearing glasses. All she needs is to take them off and have a make-over. The lead guy is a bit too stiff and too serious. Overall, the broad strokes do have some fun and mostly leaves a smile on my face. The formula does get a little tiresome.

Here, the movie starts in the Waratah Championships, a setup for the big Pan-Pacific Ballroom Championships later on. Scott Hastings had already danced a great Viennese waltz with former partner Liz Holt, and then, as the scene shifts to samba, Scott Hastings starts out great with Liz, and then, in the middle of the samba version of "Tequila" in the background, Scott explodes and does his overkill-laden solo trick steps way beyond what Liz could follow. Les Kendall, Scott's dance coach, explains the reason why Scott wanted to free himself--in the start of the samba, Les said that he was "boxed-in" by Ken Rallings and Tina Sparkles, which caused Scott to release a freedom type of dancing anger. Liz tries to keep up with Scott's unacceptable solo dance showmanship but then, Australian Dance Council chairman, Barry Fife, penalizes that couple major points causing Ken and Tina to win the Waratah title. Liz then finally cuts off her dance partnership with Scott after the competition at the next scene in the Kendall Dance Studio.Then, a new beginning dance partner, Fran, accosts Scott at the studio and make a ruse to be new partners and practice their routine in light of the upcoming Pan-Pacific Dance Championships. Fran's flamenco dance ability is given away a bit when she demonstrates a short tap sequence. Learning from the dancesport debacle in Waratah, Scott is still stubborn and decides to strongly bend the dancesport rules with "new steps" for the Pan-Pacific championships to try to impress Barry Fife. Barry is not happy about it and decides that Scott's "new steps" will never, ever be in the books in competition as long as Fife remains in power in Australian dancesport.In the middle of the movie, Tina Sparkle decides to retire from her partnership from Ken Railings, doing their final honor dance at a pre- competition social ballroom dance party, while at the same time, Scott and Fran, do a theatrical dance in quasi-silhouette to "Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps." This is where the disapproval of their partnership increases. Les Kendall now warns Scott that if you dance with Fran, you will never win the Pan-Pacific competition, but then suggests to Scott that if you partner up with Tina, you will have a 100 percent shot of winning the Pan-Pacific title.But then, Fran and Scott are caught by Fran's flamenco music family, forcing them to dance a paso doble, and then, eventually, Fran's father then teaches him the authentic Spanish paso doble. The solo focusing of the paso is the beginning of the recipe for almost total disaster on the start of the Pan-Pacific championships. In the appetizer paso doble heat in the competition floor, Fran does dance with an unknown lady, and then, as Scott arrives to face the forced partnering of Tina Sparkles with him for the Latin championship round, Scott decides at the last minute to dance with Fran in the second paso doble around with several professional Latin dance couples dancing. Barry Fife, already there, catches Fran and Scott in the action and orders the music powered down, and disqualifies both dancers for good. Fran and Scott, however, refuses to leave the floor and instead, with the help of Fran's family, dance a spectacular Spanish flamenco dance with strong paso feel, shocking the audience, and even Barry Fife himself. In the end, the audience comes out to the dance floor to get their chance to dance, and the guess is that even if disqualified--you can shock a crowd if you do a great unique dance, and that's what Fran and Scott did. They won their hearts, even if it is not a championship trophy!

Strictly Ballroom (1992)A campy, glossy, colorful, surprising fairy tale, total romance, lots of dancing, and inventive through and through. No, director Baz Luhmann has not pulled off another Moulin Rouge, which is a whole other order of invention and beauty, but this is his first movie, and it's filled with idealism. And some people to root for and to hiss against--you know, heroes and villains.It could have been tightened up, no doubt--there are times when I was a little impatient even though they were dancing away. But mostly I was happy to watch and wait for the next step toward the big climax.The two young leads, interestingly, came from nowhere (the perfectly named Paul Mercurio and the understated Tara Morice both in their first films). They've gone on to largely television careers, and in part you appreciate how much Luhmann gets from them. The highly stylized approach helps avoid a need for real acting, per se, but Mercurio in particular really rises to the occasion. The whole affair is Australian, and it feels bright and original the way some of fellow Aussie Peter Weir's films do, or in another sense, Peter Jackson.If you can summon up any innocence and romance and go for what really clicks here, be swept up and love it.