dvd of the week
Despite promises from the film’s distributor, Cuban Fury was never shown in San Diego. Now this delightful film is on DVD. Nick Frost plays Bruce, a chunky Brit with a job in middle management. As a teen, he had been something else: a confident champion salsa dancer. On his way to a major dance championship, he was beaten by homophobic bullies and never danced again, much to the chagrin of his touch-talking coach, Ron (delightfully type-cast Ian McShane). Everything changes when a new boss arrives. Julia (Rashida Jones) is both dorky and stunning, and immediately, both Bruce and his frenemy Drew (Chris O’Dowd) set their skeevy eyes on Julia. Even though Drew is clearly a cad, he has the confidence Bruce lacks. When Bruce discovers that Julia loves salsa, some sort of fire lights inside him and he decides to make a change. He finds his hard-drinking old coach and starts taking his dance lessons, where he meets the outrageous Bejan (Kayvan Novak), who is my favorite stereotypically gay sidekick of 2014. One thing leads to another, and along the way, there’s a purloined letter, some Three’s Company slapstick and an epic dance battle between Bruce and Drew. These movies all end the same way, which is comforting.
