Cuban Fury

"I have something you don't"

"Type 2 diabetes?"

As a teen Bruce Garrett was an unstoppable salsa champion, until bullies crushed his spirit.  Twenty years later he is an engineer and hasn't danced for decades.  No one in his life knows about his dance past, except his sister Sam (Colman), who was his dance partner.

His new boss, Julia (Jones), is beautiful and unattainable, until he learns that she loves salsa.  With his jerky co-worker Drew (O'Dowd) also pursuing Julia, Bruce decides to return to salsa.  Can his former teacher Ron Parfitt (McShane) and the other dancers at the studio reignite Bruce's passion for dance in time to win Julia's heart?


I have loved Nick Frost since his days on Spaced and his film collaborations with Simon Pegg (who has a funny cameo here): Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul, and The World's End.  He also has a successful career on his own.  He starred in Hyperdrive, and has a nice variety of film roles.  This film proves that he has the ability to be a compelling lead actor and carry a film on his own.  He is endearing as Bruce and shows off his dance moves.  He is surrounded by talented actors who are clearly having a blast.

Chris O'Dowd, who typically plays good guys, goes for broke as the smarmy Drew.  I loved him in The IT Crowd and his movie roles, but it was nice to see him do something new.  The dance-off scene between Frost and O'Dowd is one of the best scenes in the film (pictured above).  Rashida Jones is underused and her character is underdeveloped.  She has proven that she can be compelling and funny, and it is tragic that she doesn't get to show off like the rest of the cast.  The real standout is Kayvan Novak.  He is hilarious.  Apparently in the UK, he created and starred in the show Fonejacker where he performs as several different characters.  Now he is poised to take Hollywood by storm.  Ian McShane and Olivia Colman are great in their respective roles.

A funny film with a solid Latin soundtrack and lots of salsa dancing.

Cuban Fury (2014) 98 minutes
Rating: R for language and sexual references
Director: James Griffiths
Starring: Nick Frost as Bruce Garrett
Rashida Jones as Julia
Chris O'Dowd as Drew
Olivia Colman as Sam
Ian McShane as Ron Parfitt
Alexandra Roach as Helen
Rory Kinnear as Gary
Kayvan Novak as Bejan
Tim Plester as Mickey