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Cooper Raiffs camera, it must be said, loves Cooper Raiff.
This isnt necessarily a bad thing: Cameras should love their subjects, at least a little bit.
And for the most part, it never comes.
(A New YorkTimesreviewlast week from Manohla Dargis was so brutal that it actually went viral.)
Your tolerance forCha Cha Real Smoothwill likely hinge on your tolerance for Raiff himself as a cinematic presence.
Words come bursting out of Andrew as if hes mortified at the mere possibility of an awkward pause.
He jokes; he observes; he apologizes; he jokes some more.
Were genuinely curious to see how this relationship might progress.
Everybody seems to be there mostly to emphasize Andrews underlying decency.
Shes not the only one.
The rest ofCha Cha Real Smoothfeels like a checklist of coming-of-age elements.
Andrew has a college girlfriend who is studying in Barcelona, and whom he wants to join in Spain.
Maybe its all intentional.
Maybe its all supposed to be indicative of the emotional transience of youth.
By then, any interesting ideas this film once had have been scuttled by its aw-shucks narcissism.
