good back-story, and good acting

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

It is clear that most who reviewed this film know very little about the type of dancing in this movie. No this particular story or dance has not been shown in any movie in quite this way. The movie is based a lot on actual experiences the writer had which was Tom Malloy who portrayed the deaf dancing teacher. Therefore they used real competition dancers throughout the movie. Many of the professional dancers played various parts in different dance numbers and these were the best of the best. Tom Malloy got the idea concerning his character learning there were actual deaf dancers like this and most do turn off their hearing aids while they are dancing as he showed.Many scenes were taken from real life experiences or one's the author was told about like Billy Zane's bag dance which is done at some weddings. There is no major plot except the life of competition dancing for those who do West Coast Swing and the budding romance of the main two characters. Props are not allowed in this type of competition but since it was a film they took some liberties. All of the main dancers are award winning dancers. Nicola Royston is the wife of the man who did the MC part, Robert Royston. He is considered the best West Coast Swing Dancer in the world and she had done stage acting previously. So that was a treat.This was an Indie film and they struggled even getting the funds to make it and considering who was in it and behind it they did something wonderful. The film was supposed to be where the skyline showed. The fact they filmed much of it in NM isn't relevant. It wasn't a mistake. I absolutely love this film, it is unique. The director actually had a dance background even though he is known for other types of things. Billy Zane was hilarious and did a lot of ad-libs throughout the movie.Tom Malloy and Amy Smart do almost all their own dancing. He had nine years in West Coast Swing dancing and she actually did have a ballet background from 4 to 14 and after that jazz dancing but not this type. It was only at the end they added in doubles to help the look of the last dance in the competition. Malloy didn't know until they went to film and was a little miffed but it got sorted out. Therefore part of it is Tom and Amy and some the doubles. You see them sitting in the audience earlier in the movie. They are the two sitting where the man tells the woman that Tom's character is deaf. There are parts that removed cues that he was deaf because they went from a long short to close up. As for the phone, his phone may have figuratively had an amplifier in it so he could hear with his hearing aids. Being declared deaf doesn't necessarily mean that one cannot hear. Some hear certain things and not others and some are stone cold deaf. His character was not born deaf nor was all his hearing gone but enough to be declared deaf. He only stated how he knew what the kids were saying. He did not go into any other aspect of the character's hearing or any fixes he had concerning it.All in all if you know what the movie is about it did what it was designed to do. Some may know Tom Malloy from other films. He was the writer, and producer of the movie The Alphabet Killer and also had an acting part. He also actually does motivational speaking. Get a DVD and listen to the background behind this movie. Love N' Dancing is one of my favorites and I have watched it many times. If you don't like the feel good type of movie that is musical then this wouldn't be your cup of tea, but it is clever and a very entertaining film.

It was painful sitting through this. The same movie has been done over and over again. Acting was poor. Each one of them seemed to be trying too hard to bring their characters to life.The story, a school teacher takes a few dance lessons and her instructor believes she is ready to compete in the world championships? Are you serious? It was so bad, even the smallest things were annoying. A scene at a party, male leads former dance partner is with her new guy. He is chomping on gum with his mouth open like a cow chewing it's cud. And drinking a beer. Beer and gum? Try it sometime, you'll see why it isn't done.I could run off a seemingly endless list of things in this movie that I found annoying, but it would be much easier to list the things that did not annoy me. Hmmmmmm, thinking........hmmmm..... well, the dance sequences, with the real dancers, were fairly good to watch.I just wish there was a score lower than 1 to rate this movie.

... and I dance East Coast Swing, a simplified take on Lindy Hop, which is the real thing (West Coast borrows a few moves from East Coast/Lindy and blues dance but is actually too Hollywood in its choreography and too close to the Hustle -- FEH!), so of course the dancing fell short for me. Real swing is what you dance to Count Basie, Duke Ellington, or Benny Goodman, or even contemporary big bands. My saying so will no doubt steam the West Coast fans in the audience, but hey, dance history is what it is (look up Frankie Manning and Hellzapoppin' on Wikipedia if you want to know where it all came from). Besides, the dance scenes would have fallen short anyway, for reasons cited below. But I digress.I started off really wanting to like this movie. Honest. After all, I found the male lead appealing at first, and I'd enjoyed other dance films such as Strictly Ballroom, Center Stage, Take The Lead, and Tango Bar (I even tolerated Shall We Dance fairly well, given my usually complete disdain for Richard Gere). But no: the non-dance part of this storyline was so weak it made me cringe. OFTEN. Billy Zane was slightly less obnoxious than usual, so that was something, but not enough to offset the fact that Amy Smart seemed to be sleepwalking through the whole thing. The writing was awful. Their fight scene at home, for example, seemed sudden and oh, so contrived. So did the upset at their friends' wedding. Fake, fake, fake. You could see the consequences telegraphed a mile away. And the dance competition was even **more** Hollywood over-the-top than West Coast usually is. Mehhh. They learned ALL the wrong things from ballroom competitions.Worst of all, Amy Smart never looked like she was really getting the hang of the sense of elasticity or stretch that underlies all variations of swing -- or that she was enjoying any of it, even a little bit. If you hate dancing that much, why do a dance movie?? Don't tell me she really liked it, because you sure couldn't tell from her performance in this film. I could barely sit through it. The actual dancing by others, however, like some ballroom competitions I've seen, was expert yet mechanical. Soulless despite all the plastic smiles, sequins, and flash moves. Wasn't **anybody** really getting into it? It's like they were still showing off but all just too cool to really show they like it. Nuts!!! I've seen much more fun and energy generated by amateurs at Lindy competitions on college campuses than I saw anywhere in this film. And I kept wanting to see real Lindy Hop, so that spoiled the rest of it for me.If you want an introduction to WCS, I suppose this is as good as any; but if you were hoping for another Swing Kids (despite its inauthentic choreography) or Take The Lead, sit this one out -- it's not your kind of number, and it doesn't even have anyone like Antonio Banderas to save it. And Lindyhoppers should avoid it entirely. (It'll just annoy you too much. Better your should watch Frankie Manning clips on YouTube or video reruns from the Frankie 95 celebration. I'm just saying.)PS -- I just noticed that Tom Molloy, the lead, also wrote the script. He has a lot to answer for, in that case.

While I am not a movie critic, I realize (and appreciate) the themes which director Robert Iscove and writer Tom Malloy highlight in this movie. Rarely do theatrical releases emphasize the important theme of "ability" versus "disability" that this movie does so well. Love N' Dancing is not just a film about someone who is hearing-impaired finding love and acceptance, but it highlights a theme important to life: accepting our own limitations and then finding the courage to triumph over them. Sometimes you need someone else to help you realize that you have more courage and determination than you give yourself credit for. With these qualities, you are able to harness the power within to challenge, and eventually overcome, the face of adversity. These themes are central to the Love N' Dancing story, and they complement a new style of dancing unfamiliar to most Americans.In this movie, the adversity is a hearing loss. To provide an obstacle for our main hero and heroine, Malloy introduces a character we love to hate: one who represents those kinds of people you encounter who are usually negative in life and actually prevent you from achieving high self-esteem and self-confidence, which are qualities that are so important in realizing your dreams. Most "relationship" movies don't emphasize this "ability" theme as well as this movie does. For these reasons, I loved Love N' Dancing and the important life messages it conveys to the viewer. I urge you to see the movie with this philosophical understanding, and you may never look at a "disabled" person in the same way again!