Tom Malloy goes all-in on a film he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. It’s a shame his hard work doesn’t pay off.
★★✰✰✰
It’s undoubtedly true that dancing has a place on the silver screen. We only need look at such big hitters as Billy Elliot (2000), Saturday Night Fever (1977), and Dirty Dancing (1987) to know this is the case. Ask Me To Dance had the potential to echo the success of its predecessors. Director, producer, writer, and star Tom Malloy even described the dancing in the film as, ‘the glue that holds the main characters together,’ and admittedly, it does bring some nice moments. But when the rest of the film is such a baffling mess, even Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey’s famous Dirty Dancing lift (which is partially re-enacted in poor taste halfway through) wouldn’t have won anyone over.
After a swing dance social, Jack (Tom Malloy), and Jill (Step Up franchise veteran Briana Evigen) are confronted separately by a fortune-teller. She prophecies that they will meet the loves of their lives before midnight on New Year’s Eve, in five days. In the week that follows, each will go on a series of calamitous dates, narrowly missing each other on each one. As New Year’s Eve draws nearer and their foretold romances are still nowhere in sight, the two begin to wonder not how they will meet, but if.
In short, this is a film that has some idea of what it is when it sets off, but gets so lost on the way that it barely remembers to foxtrot across the finish line. Classed as a romantic comedy, there is surprisingly scant romance to be found, unless you count the barely-there relationship of bride- and groom-to-be Amy and Ron, or that of Samantha and her partner David, whose physical relationship takes up far too much screen time. The real romance is shoved right to the end of the film, to the union between the two leads that viewers can guess is coming but have to sit through all the intermediary fluff to actually get to. Once there, what could have been a predictable yet satisfying conclusion is lost in the sense of complete bewilderment at all the tonal inconsistencies.
These inconsistencies lie in the increasingly ridiculous dates peppered throughout the film, mostly arranged by Jack and Jill’s well-meaning friends. There’s an actor sporting a fake Aussie accent and a ton of insecurities, an overly competitive fitness fanatic, a Breaking Bad-hating chemistry teacher, and a woman who admits she stabbed her last boyfriend—most worrying is that this isn’t immediately perceived as a huge red flag. And that’s not all of them. One can’t help but mourn the number of missed comedic moments that could have been sprinkled into these scenes – had the comedy not been so offbeat as to be almost unrecognisable, these dating escapades could have given the film a lot of much-needed humour.
Even when the film is drawing to a close, with the climactic wedding Jack and Jill are both attending and could possibly meet at, any potential romance is overshadowed by Jack’s jealous, intoxicated date approaching him with a cutlery knife and ending up in a short-lived standoff with, ‘Nana (Joyce DeWitt),’ who, for reasons unknown, has brought a gun to the wedding. The encounter is yet another example of attempts at offbeat humour falling well short of the mark and detracting from the main story.
It can’t be denied that the dancing (choreographed by eight-time U.S. Open swing dance champion Robert Royston) works, both as a form of expression that illuminates just how ill-suited the various dates are for the leads, and as something that bonds Jack and Jill together even when they are apart. The nod to West Coast Swing routines through the names ‘Jack’ and ‘Jill,’ a dance in which partners are randomly thrown together, cements dancing as a fundamental medium of communication and an enduring motif throughout the film. The real tragedy is that we don’t get more of it.
The performances are hardly exceptional, but neither are they inherently terrible. Evigen, with her wonderfully fluid dancing and irresistible charm, does her best to add some sparkle to her credit. Malloy isn’t quite as convincing as a leading man, though Jack’s lack of substance doesn’t give him a lot to work with. Some may argue that these stripped-down characters are an acceptable foundation for a rom-com leads, but foundations are there to be built upon, and there isn’t so much as a first-floor level by the time the credits roll. A sharper focus on rounding out Jack and Jill as individuals might have served the film better than sending them on the maximum number of dates possible, and would have complemented their connection through dance.
Towards the film’s close, Jack and Jill finally get to dance with one another, and the long-awaited routine is a pleasure to watch. Their connection is almost tangible. Unfortunately, it is all too little too late – it’s not enough to make up for sitting through one terrible date after another
The Verdict
With better character development, a reduced focus on how many dating experiences can be stuffed into a ninety-minute film, and more awareness of what makes good comedy, this film could have been a refreshing addition to the genre. As it is, Ask Me To Dance lacks enough of anything to make a truly lasting impression.
Words by Faye Price
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