Barnes & Noble

In this delightful 1992 musical comedy, innovative director Baz Luhrmann exhibits the same visual flair and iconoclastic spirit that made his more celebrated later hit, Moulin Rouge (2001), such a genre-bending treat. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at a contest for ballroom dancers at which the highly competitive Scott (Gus Mercurio) plans on breaking with tradition, much to the consternation of his conservative partner (Gia Carides), his overbearing mother (Pat Thompson), and the ballroom-dancing "establishment." He chooses a new partner, a bespectacled "ugly duckling" named Fran (Tara Morice) and stakes his reputation on her untested ability by choosing a complicated flamenco routine guaranteed to raise eyebrows. To an extent, Strictly Ballroom caricatures movie musicals, but the kidding is good-natured and the lead players are enormously likable. The film is also something of a Cinderella story, a little less credible than some might like, but no less entertaining for that. Luhrmann supplies a commentary for the DVD, whose other special features include deleted scenes (hidden "Easter egg" style), a featurette on dancing entitled "From Samba to Slow Fox,"and a gallery of images from the film presented in 3D. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

This wildly off-beat comedy is about a male dancer (Paul Mercurio) who refuses to follow the accepted rules of ballroom dancing and creates his own style of choreography, which infuriates the ballroom dancing establishment. Before he's scheduled to compete in the Pan-Pacific ballroom championships, he's forced to take up a new partner (Tara Morice), a beginner who initially seems without promise. With his help, she turns into an assured and wonderful dancer. Baz Luhrmann's visual style may be too bright, gaudy and exaggerated for some tastes, yet he treats his characters with compassion, which makes Strictly Ballroom such an engaging comedy. Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Chicago Sun-Times

What's best about the movie is the sense of madness and mania running just beneath its surface. Roger Ebert

Product Details

• UPC: 786936166712
• Source: MIRAMAX
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:34:00
• Sales Rank: 2,381

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Red Curtain Trilogy

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