6.3 stars.
I like both lead actors, but this film is primarily about an adept female dancer (McKellar) as she attempts to teach a deconditioned man to swing dance for a contest. Her family needs her to win the contest to save the family store. She used to be a professional dancer and won many competitions years ago, but had a falling out with her previous Russian dance partner, and subsequently gave up dancing. She eventually went into finance. The lead male was a decent dancer when he was a young boy, but apparently hasn't danced in decades. He is an accountant.
Whereas she was a professional, he was barely an amateur. As the two of them are practicing, it's quite obvious that he has two left feet and there is no way a man of his low caliber could win a contest at this level. He is also overweight and fairly clumsy. It's somewhat of a farce and inconceivable to imagine them winning. This would be like Bradley Cooper's character winning in 'Silver Linings Playbook'. We all know he has no chance, but Cooper was somewhat lithe, and at least they made it interesting with the side bet on the NFL game. 'Swing Into Romance' has no such excitement.
Unfortunately, where the romance lacks, the dancing doesn't make up the difference. Something is missing and I can only guess that it's a lack of chemistry. This movie fell flat and it's an outlier in that respect, because almost every GAF, UP, Hallmark movie between 6.7 and 6.9 stars is amazing. If I want to watch a movie only for dance I'll watch 'Step Up' or 'Dirty Dancing'. I'm looking for an original family movie with dance AND romance and 'Swing Into Romance' should be called 'Swing into'.
