I can say the same for the supporting cast as well. The only three supporting characters that really jumped at me were Bejan, a very flamboyant and passionate salsa dancer Bruce meets at salsa lessons, played excellently by Kayvan Novak; Sam, Bruce’s sister and former dance partner, now 35 and still working at a Hawaiian bar, who comes to life at the hands of Olivia Colman; and Ron, Bruce’s old, washed-up, alcoholic salsa mentor, who, really, is just Ian McShane being Ian McShane, but I don’t have a problem with that one bit. He can tell me to get smashed and play board games any day.
Despite generally average filmmaking, there’s an immaculately choreographed dance/fight scene in a parking garage between Frost and O’Dowd that goes on far longer than it had any right to and it’s just fantastic. Everyone in this movie has some serious dancing chops, especially Frost. It’s like if The Office had a West Side Story-themed episode. It’s so nuts, and it’s the best part of the movie.
Overall, Cuban Fury is enjoyable but inoffensive, which is a shame for a film about something as vibrant and flashy as salsa dancing. Its cast of characters is fine and they fill their duties, but I don’t remember most of them. Nick Frost is a damn fine leading man, but he’s not enough to hold the entire movie together.
Grade: B