Mad Hot Awesome.

Watch out Richard Gere and J-Lo...you've got some stiff ballroom dancing competition.

Mad Hot Ballroom. It's like Dirty Dancing for a whole new generation. Except this is real. There's no Johnny Castle, no carrying of watermelons, no putting Baby in the corner, no Shelldrake wallet stealing fiasco or botched abortion (confession: the first time I saw Dirty Dancing (secretly, btw, at my next door neighbor's house) I didn't know what "knocked up" meant and was too embarrassed to ask anyone). But there's music! And dancing! And caring dance instructors! And a serious competition at the end. And dance partners who pretend to hate each other but secretly heart each other really badly (except they're 10, so they don't know it yet and, LBH...will these boys ever know it?).

These kids are awesome. Underprivileged kids overcoming adversity to become ballroom dance aficionados. You should see these kids. They're amazing. They've got moves. They've got rhythm. They've got drive. They've also got accents and drug dealers outside their front doors and live in single parent households. Which makes their newfound love for ballroom dancing, the love of their teachers, their enthusiasm and excitement all the more fantastic and endearing. They mature and grow and learn about themselves and each other while they learn to merengue, swing and tango (T-A-NGO). I may have shed a tear.


Best line: "I'm only going to have one child, because I don't want to have my house be messy with more childs. No, no, no!" Ha! Irrelevant to the movie, but really funny. You gotta stick it out and watch the credits. These kids are hilarious.