Adults are all the same children, only with money and cars. Our world is filled with infantile individuals who don't know what they want from life. What to do about it and where to run for unhappy children in adult skins, the director of the indie fi...

Recent college graduate Andrew (Cooper Raiff) tries to start living like an adult, but nothing works out for him. Instead of an ambitious job with prospects, he's a cashier at a fast-food joint, and instead of an apartment, he's in his younger brother's room at their parents' house. The young man doesn't understand where his life is heading until one day he goes to a bar mitzvah with his brother. There, he discovers new talents and meets a sweet but sad woman named Domino (Dakota Johnson), who is raising an autistic daughter (Vanessa Burghardt). In a strange way, this evening changes a lot in Andrew's life.

“Cha Cha Real Smooth” is an indie rom-com that premiered at the Sundance festival in early 2022, where it won the Audience Award. Apple took notice of the film there and acquired it for its streaming service. This is a fully auteur film, with Cooper Raiff as director, screenwriter, and lead actor. His debut film “Shithouse” was also about the hardships of young people's lives, but focused specifically on student life. Now, Raiff dissects the hearts and souls of people during the transition to adulthood.

This indie film combines the plot traditions of early 2000s comedies: boy meets girl (a bit older), a child as a connecting link for a future romance, and a love triangle. At the same time, the film turns out to be an adaptation of the rom-com in line with the demands of recent years — it's not just a comedy with a light moral, but rather a moral with comedic elements. However, the film is not heavy-handed and doesn't feel like a moral lesson, but more like a heart-to-heart conversation.

“Cha Cha Real Smooth” is like an illustration of the saying “People need people.” Loneliness and confusion permeate the actions of almost all the characters. First of all, it is felt in the relationship between 22-year-old Andrew and the woman Domino. He is lost in the adult world, not understanding what he wants; she is lost in relationships with adults, where everything requires responsibility. Emotional helplessness becomes the connecting link for them, which draws them to each other.

In the film, humor always hides the unspoken pain or longing of the characters. Just like the main character: he deftly jokes in any situation, but in essence he is unhappy and lonely. Even though he knows how to cheer people up on the dance floor, he cannot find a reason for joy for himself.

The film “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” by describing the difficulties in the life of an autistic girl, touches on another important topic — the acceptance of people with disabilities. Thus, Cooper Raiff not only reminds us of the imperfection of today's society, which wants to seem better, but also gently reproaches it: we think so much about the fate of various minorities, but forget about people with disabilities, who are sometimes unable to defend themselves.

Also, an intergenerational conflict is subtly woven into the overall narrative of the film, but with Raiff it turns out to be a kind of role reversal. Here, the sons cannot accept their mother's new partner. They think they know better who she needs, until they are faced with the truth — they don't know anything.

“Cha Cha Real Smooth” is a touching and sincere film that reflects on how emotionally painful it is to grow up. Both the recent student and the adult woman with a child are afraid of what adult life holds. They cannot find their place in this world. And it turns out that these lost people can only be helped by other lost souls.