''Mad About Mambo'' is a 2000

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by John Forte. It stars William Ash,

Keri Russell Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series ''Felicity (TV series), Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans), ...

and Brian Cox.

Plot

A boy obsessed with football finds his life changing dramatically once he adds a little Samba. Danny (Ash) plays on the football team at the all-boys Catholic school he attends in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. Danny's three best friends, who also play on the team, all have different ambitions for their lives. Mickey (Maclean Stewart) wants to be a fashion designer so he can get rich and date supermodels. Gary (Russell Smith) wants to become a magician so he can get rich and meet beautiful women (and presumably saw them in half). And Spike (Joe Rea) likes to beat people up, so he wants to become a mercenary and do it for a living. But Danny dreams of making football his life. The players Danny most admires are South Americans, such as Pele and Carlos Riga, who he feels have a special rhythm and flexibility. Wanting to add some of these qualities to his own game, Danny has an idea: he'll take Samba lessons, in the hope that dancing like a South American will help him play like a South American. To the surprise of himself and his friends, Danny turns out to be a pretty good Latin dancer and finds himself smitten with a student in his dance class, Lucy (Russell). However, Lucy happens to have a boyfriend, who is a fierce competitor on one of Danny's rival teams. The film also stars Brian Flanagan who plays an inspiring cameo role along with members of Celbridge Town Football Club.

Cast

* William Ash as Danny Mitchell *

as Lucy McLoughlin * Brian Cox as Sidney McLoughlin * Maclean Stewart as Mickey * Joe Rea as Spike * Russell Smith as Gary * Theo Fraser Steele as Oliver Parr *

Tim Loane Tim Loane is a writer, director, lecturer and actor. Loane created the TV series ''Teachers (UK TV series), Teachers'' for Channel 4 and was the lead writer for the first season. He was nominated at the 70th Academy Awards for Academy Award for B ...

as Brother McBride * Jim Norton as Brother Xavier *

Rosaleen Linehan Rosaleen Philomena Linehan (; born 1 June 1937) is an Irish stage, screen and television actress. Career Linehan was born in Dublin. She attended University College Dublin and graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and P ...

as Mrs Burns * Aingeal Grehan as Mrs Mitchell * Gavin O'Connor as Seamus Mitchell * Alan McKee as Frank Mallon * Julian Littman as Rudi Morelli *

Daniel Caltagirone Daniel Caltagirone (born 18 June 1972) is an English actor, best known for his roles in ''The Beach (film), The Beach'', ''Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life'', and the Oscar-winning film ''The Pianist (2002 film), The Pianist''. His brea ...

as Carlos Rega

Jackie Fullerton John Alexander Fullerton,
Belfast Telegraph: 15 May 2003; accessed 19 Jan ...

also makes a cameo as himself.

Production

Despite being set in Belfast, the majority of filming took place in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. Filming began in May 1998.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 57% based on reviews from 14 critics. John Walker, in ''Halliwell's Film, Video & DVD Guide'', wrote: 'Oddly titled corny romance - it has nothing to do with the mambo - that is frequently implausible but gets by on the charm of its two stars.' Walker, John, ''Halliwell's Film, Video & DVD Guide 2004'', London: HarperCollinsEntertainment, p. 523.

References

External links

* 2000 films 2000s dance films 2000 romantic comedy films 2000s sports comedy films 2000s teen comedy films 2000s teen romance films British association football films British dance films British romantic comedy films British sports comedy films British teen comedy films British teen romance films Films set in Belfast Films shot in the Republic of Ireland Gramercy Pictures films Irish romantic comedy films Irish teen comedy films Phoenix Pictures films Teen sports films USA Films films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films 2000 directorial debut films {{2000s-comedy-film-stub