Cuban Fury Didn't Exactly Set The World On Fire

One day, Nick Frost had a weird idea to make a salsa movie. And this is what came out of that.

A pretty corny little film with a few very notable names who probably just showed up on set to shoot the shit with some people they'd always wanted to work with. It's mediocre, but gives just enough to maybe keep you vaguely interested.

Essentially, Nick Frost plays Bruce, a guy down on his luck... and down on his life, who used to be really into salsa dancing but through bullying decided not to pursue that path any longer. One day, Rashida Jones shows up as his new boss Julia and lets slip that she's into salsa. Bruce's old passion is suddenly reignited for better or for worse.

The cast is honestly the only thing that kept me around till the end. I like Nick Frost, though it's strange to see him as the leading man. While I never like to pigeonhole anyone, he's just never proven himself capable of carrying a film. Rashida Jones does her usual thing, sort of but not really that witty girl you can get along with. And Ian McShane shows up and clearly just wants to have fun. He's been such a strange actor to me, because he's exceptionally talented, but rarely seems to do films that showcase his abilities. I like that he goes to set to enjoy himself, but I guess I still want to see more out of him. Then there's Chris O'Dowd... who's been making some very odd choices. Since his success with Bridesmaids, it seems he's decided to go out and just play despicable character after despicable character. And I bet he's having a blast doing it. Perhaps I'm just looking at what he's done in 2014, but between this and Calvary I'm not exactly sure what (if anything) he's trying to say.

I know I'm sort of blasting this cast a little, but it mostly comes from a knowledge that they have a lot of talent and seem to just be materializing into second-rate productions like this one. Cuban Fury doesn't do or say anything new. Its message is well-meaning enough. But at the end of the day, it's not  gonna change your life and it may not even be able to hold your interest through a pretty short 98 minute run-time. So take that for what it's worth.