Presented in the US Dramatic Competition of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Cooper Raiff’s sophomore feature, Cha Cha Real Smooth, continues his exploration on self-discovery, with his unique touch of wittiness.
With the newest voice and cementing his name in American Independent Film, Cooper Raiff took charge at the turn of the 2020’s with his South by Southwest Grand Jury Prize Winner, Shithouse, and now with his Sundance U.S. Drama Competition, Cha Cha Real Smooth. As the title suggest, Raiff, who has so far directed, written, and acted in those two films, plays a charming bar mitzvah party orchestrator to keep the party ‘lit’. The generational transition from millennial to generation z differences is becoming apparent in its story telling. The strongest aspect of Raiff’s acting and writing is his ability to normalize a vulnerable emotion with his offbeat wittiness. Andrew’s family dynamics is what supports and brings freshness to his stories such as a vulnerable young male who isn’t afraid of showing emotions, a mother/son relationship where everything is shared, and a relatable young adult love story.
Opening in a flashback at a bar mitzvah with young Andrew, we see him propose an act of infatuation towards Bella, an older woman who is acting as the party orchestrator in her early 20s (small cameo by Kelly O’Sullivan). Throughout this flashback, the major themes of the mother and son relationship, age gap relationship, vulnerability, and of course coming of age lays out the blueprint for the film. Fast forward to present day, Andrew (Cooper Raiff) meets Domino (Dakota Johnson) who is the mother of Lola, an autistic teenager outcasted by almost all her classmates. Andrew makes his move, by charming and swooning all the party goers to dance to hits that each generational group can dance to (fooly cooly and Funkytown). When he makes his move and impresses Domino by connecting with Lola, he automatically opens the door to Domino.
A few bar mitzvahs later, Domino reveals to Andrew she is engaged and that her fiancé is a lawyer who spends most of his time out of town for a case he’s working on. By this moment, Raiff’s intentions with Domino are found at a crossroads as the two have a connection, but many personal problems interfere.
He later offers to house sit or chaperone Lola to Domino to help his chances of getting closer to her. Now the predictability can show where the film heads toward to, but in this case, a complex history of Domino and Andrew’s in-between being a kid and adult begin to explore themselves further through each other. The story dives into a difference of growth, acceptance, and future, in which Shithouse explored as well.
Raiff’s ability to construct this male character of vulnerability/insecurity through his writing is explored in Shithouse, but in Cha Cha Real Smooth, his connection with everyone he interacts with is crowd pleasing above all. Trying to fit in as much issues in each character with little exploration was the biggest misfire above all. Above all, his smoothness and comfortability around his writing sets his vision separate from others. Although it is a step above Shithouse, Raiff might need to explore different stories instead of being type-casted as the leading spokesperson of witty gen-z romantic comedy films.
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