Cha Cha Real Smooth
Apple TV+ | Release Date: June 17, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
5
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellJun 17, 2022
Cha Cha Real Smooth is perfect because it never set out to be anything close to a rom-com. Raiff focused instead on what it is that brings people together, which has more to do with attraction than anything else in cinema. Read full review
100
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 17, 2022
Dismiss “Cha Cha” as yet another heartwarming comedy at your peril because every single person in it has layers upon layers of complexity. Read full review
100
ColliderRoss BonaimeApr 12, 2022
With only two films, Raiff has proven himself to be one of the most exciting filmmakers today, telling stories that are emotionally honest and lived in, without any pretensions and with an unabashed tenderness. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubMark KeizerJun 14, 2022
Cha Cha Real Smooth has an unforced charm and lack of guile that’s refreshing and stops just short of being precious and ingratiating. Read full review
91
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsJan 24, 2022
It’s hard to find movies—no matter their scope—that grasp and depict the human experience with the kind of honesty and dexterity Raiff has committed to the screen so far. Read full review
90
Film ThreatAlan NgMay 5, 2022
Cha Cha Real Smooth is a series of reflections on life. Read full review
90
IGNMatt DonatoMar 22, 2022
Cooper Raiff dances around complex emotions with the smoothest of steps in Cha Cha Real Smooth, sliding into the definition of feel-good filmmaking. Read full review
90
SlashfilmBen PearsonJan 24, 2022
Even if its archetypes might feel overly familiar, the formula works for a reason, and when anything is executed with such pure-hearted joy and affection for its characters, you can't help but smile. Read full review
90
TheWrapCarlos AguilarJan 23, 2022
Avoiding the sophomore slump, Raiff’s delightfully sigh-worthy Cha Char Real Smooth is the type of sincere enterprise that could easily be spoiled with hackneyed platitudes or simplistically rose-colored plot points, yet here it sings with a wondrous candor and an unforced dramatic rhythm that turns it mightily irresistible. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJun 14, 2022
If Raiff's first film was about two neurotic characters learning to get out of their own heads, then Cha Cha Real Smooth is a tenderly bittersweet story about a couple learning to use theirs. Read full review
88
ABC NewsPeter TraversJun 17, 2022
Cooper Raiff, who created this Sundance prizewinner, can't hide his feelings for people with disabilities and the challenges that come to those who love them. And I can't hide my feelings for this exuberant gift of a movie starring Raiff and a never better Dakota Johnson. Read full review
84
Paste MagazineShayna Maci WarnerJan 26, 2022
For the runtime of Cha Cha Real Smooth, Raiff’s clever script, affable characters and naturalistic direction makes it painless enough to sympathize with someone who can’t moonwalk, but will nevertheless skate on by. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 23, 2022
Cha Cha feels like both a fitting showcase for a young auteur like Raiff and a larger marker of how much movie masculinity has evolved: a real-smooth manifesto for the anti-toxic man. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 23, 2022
Raiff scales up the disarming earnestness of his debut without losing any of its DIY intimacy. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezJan 23, 2022
Cha Cha Real Smooth is an affable, heart-on-its-sleeve winner. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyJun 17, 2022
It would be hard to overpraise Burghardt, a debuting actress on the spectrum whose scenes are so tender, relaxed and generally sweet she deserves at least half the credit. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJun 17, 2022
Raiff is brave enough to not give us all we desire from the story. He accommodates a star in the ensemble cast without allowing her to unbalance the character dynamics. But the film is a tad too obtuse to capture the attention of awards voters. Oddball here wins out over mainstream. Read full review
80
EmpireBeth WebbJun 16, 2022
Raiff’s assured and intelligent writing and direction, paired with the strength of its acting ensemble, make this an irresistibly charming, emotionally rich treat. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 16, 2022
It’s a throwback in some ways, offering the same feeling you might get from ’90s and early 2000s films like “Garden State,” “Walking and Talking” and “Flirting with Disaster,” not in content, but in mood and atmosphere — an indie vibe that permeates everything, in a pleasant way. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJessica KiangJun 16, 2022
As the movie dances right up to the conventions of this well-worn genre, then deftly slides (To the left! To the right!) to avoid them, you might just find yourself clapping along in spite of it all being terminally uncool. Uncool can be a lot of fun. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 23, 2022
Building on the strengths of his justly celebrated debut, maintaining its distinctive point-of-view while broadening the scope of its sympathy, Cooper Raiff‘s Cha Cha Real Smooth is a more mainstream film than 2020’s Shithouse without feeling the least bit generic. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireJun 17, 2022
Raiff offers some impressive tonal mixtures and narrative surprises along the way, and even though his third act sags a bit, the performances—particularly from an achingly melancholy Dakota Johnson— remain compelling until the end. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 16, 2022
Writer, director and actor Cooper Raiff delivers an ingratiating turn as a cheerful lost soul in Cha Cha Real Smooth, a post-college coming-of-age story of intergenerational lust and the rocky road to adulthood. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 16, 2022
Writer-director-star Cooper Raiff’s smart and charming and delightfully offbeat Cha Cha Real Smooth is a movie very much of the present day, but there’s something almost nostalgic about the self-consciously indie material in that it reminded me of somewhat similarly themed gems such as “Rushmore” (1998), “Igby Goes Down” (1998) and “Tadpole” (1998) — and all of these films are generational descendants of “The Graduate” (1966). Read full review
75
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJun 16, 2022
Raiff’s writing and direction keep the action moving crisply, and he knows his world — set not in Dallas but in Livingston, New Jersey — very well. Read full review
75
ObserverDylan RothJun 14, 2022
Cha Cha Real Smooth is a ceaselessly warm film, full of characters with whom it’s a pleasure to spend two hours. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 13, 2022
By end of Cha Cha Real Smooth, you feel like you’ve met some people, and you liked them all, and it all felt true. For a 24-year-old filmmaker, that’s not bad. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 10, 2022
What’s most impressive about Cha Cha Raal Smooth isn’t Raiff’s riffing, his character’s offhanded charm and his semi-“smooth” cha cha moves. It’s the deft way he lets the viewer figure things out. Read full review
70
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiFeb 1, 2022
Raiff captures how relationships can blossom through connection and how affecting they can be when the two people in question are both trying to take the next steps in their lives but are not quite sure how to do it. To that end, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a triumph in its exploration of its characters, and the honesty it brings to the forefront. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 23, 2022
There’s a slightness to this tale, and also a nagging familiarity in its exploration of twenty-something restlessness, but Raiff’s compassionate eye — paired with Dakota Johnson’s melancholy turn — results in a touching, understated affair. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 23, 2022
Cha Cha Real Smooth works overtime to be an honest movie, and it also works overtime to ingratiate itself. In a sense, it accomplishes both aims, but I’m not sure that they entirely go together. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyJun 16, 2022
All the actors are very good, though Raiff, who’s in almost every scene, can get a little wearying with his combination of high energy and touch of winsomeness. Read full review
62
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 17, 2022
S#!%house genuinely engaged with the complexities of insecure, imbalanced romantic relationships, and the flawed men who pursued them. Cha Cha Real Smooth settles for a sickly sweet sitcom approach. As Andrew might sigh during a bar-mitzvah shift: oy vey. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJun 20, 2022
Raiff knows exactly what he’s doing – Cha Cha is funny, honest and shamelessly manipulative. Read full review
60
The New YorkerRichard BrodyJun 17, 2022
The entire film is tinged with a cloying glaze that seeps into the interstices of the drama and limits his characters’ range of motion. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJun 15, 2022
This is a fluent and very watchable work, and Johnson and Burghardt carry it. Read full review
50
PolygonRobert DanielsJun 17, 2022
This is a story written and directed by a 23-year-old. That reality defines Cha Cha Real Smooth’s truest virtue (blissful naïveté) and its grandest flaw — a blithering unawareness of reality. It’s a film defined by its myopic, narrow bandwidth. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 24, 2022
At a young age, Raiff still remains an exciting up-and-coming film-maker of note and even in his sophomoric slump, there’s enough, coupled with his standout debut, to suggest that better things will come. Hopefully better titles too. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 23, 2022
Raiff most likely wanted to make a movie about a well-intentioned guy in his early 20s who gradually finds his way to a better life. What undermines his efforts is a creeping smugness and self-regard, positioning every side character as an intern in the Andrew Improvement Program. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithJan 27, 2022
Rather than thoughtfully reflect on post-collegiate ennui and disillusionment, the film settles for erecting a monument to its main character’s awesomeness. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 23, 2022
What’s ultimately so disappointing about Cha Cha Real Smooth is its shallow vision of growing up, which might explain why the protagonist does so little of it. Read full review
20
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 16, 2022
I didn’t believe a single second in Cha Cha Real Smooth, but the movie isn’t trying to convince you of anything. It just wants you to like it. It wants you to smile, nod in recognition, shed a tear or two and feel good about yourself for liking it. It’s an exemplar of American indie entertainment at its most canned and solipsistic. Read full review
More From This Movie

69 Critic Reviews

6.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL