40
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- This film does other power-of-dance movies one better by downplaying the dancing and underscoring what its brethren often lack: a compelling, wrenching and wonderfully inspiring story.
- 63TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghTV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonaghExpanded by writer-director Randall Miller from a nostalgic half-hour short he made while a student at AFI, this well-intentioned film about loss, grief and new beginnings gets bogged down in syrupy cliches and blunt self-help dialogue.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood ReporterThe film is an elegiac journey to a sweeter, more civilized place in the heart. Predictable and decidedly old-fashioned in its sensibility, the film is likely to win over audiences if not critics.
- 50New York PostLou LumenickNew York PostLou LumenickOverall it's got two left feet - and charm is in dangerously short supply.
- 50New York Daily NewsJami BernardNew York Daily NewsJami BernardThe movie delivers the promised ballroom action, but not the charm. And if you think the title is endless, wait till you see Goodman's death scene.
- Despite a gloriously baroque performance from Mr. Wahlberg - attempting moves certified only for Antonio Banderas - Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School remains irredeemably soggy.
- 38Miami HeraldPeter DebrugeMiami HeraldPeter DebrugeAmounts to Chicken Soup for the Soul-style torture -- unless you like that kind of thing.
- 30Village VoiceVillage VoiceThis flat-footed male weepie musters an insurance ad's worth of clichés about the importance of busting a move in middle age-and it strains so hard to do so that it's almost perversely compelling.
- 30L.A. WeeklyL.A. WeeklyIt's all a treacly, shoddily assembled, underwritten mess.
- 20VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyJuggles three separate time periods -- and is completely formulaic in each one.