Surprisingly incoherent and boring

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Mad About Mambo... an interesting, light rom-com about a boy from the wrong side of the tracks falling for the rich girl. It was all right in its own way, but....... at no time did anyone ever do the mambo! They did lots of Samba and some Rumba, but never was Mambo in it. Strange titling for this movie. I guess Sick For Samba would not have grabbed as well.The film seems to be a neat look into the lives of Belfast residents, but it's not a serious dance movie.For some serious dancing, you'd do a lot better with Dance With Me, or Shall We Dance.

I am usually sick of movies like this one, but for some reason, I was a bit entertained by this one. Maybe (as someone already mentioned) because it reminded me of my days back to high school. Who knows? I think that the story is a bit different than in other movies with the similar content. For example, I expected that it would be a classic love-teenage-sweet story (or whatever), and that they would just appear in the competition and win it. But I was completely wrong, and was a bit surprised with what happened at the competition. I agree about the most comments regarding poor dancing, Latino music etc, but I am not a big fan of all these things so that I didn't care much about it. Another thing that I liked, and that differs from the stereotype, is the place - Belfast, and lack of glamour and high-class houses, expensive cars, etc (except very few scenes). In summary, I give 7 to this movie, although it might be too high and not fair comparing to some other really great movies. But again, who cares. Cheers.

Mad About Mambo may have a cliche plot but it its a good one! Its rolled romance, comedy, finding your path and two sports into a great film!William Ash played his football obsessed, girl chasing character charmingly and left quite a good impression. His film friends were also quite funny. Keri Russell seen on Felicity, played her out to prove worthy character well also. Showing she does have quite an ability - of acting & dancing! Go Keri!Other notable efforts where of Keri Russell's film father, her boyfriend's mother, William Ash's principle, coach, mother and their dance instructor. After seeing this independent film the girls may even get into soccer as the boys may even get into dancing!! A great film and a good laugh - see it.

I watched this movie wanting (and expecting) to see some great dancing and hear some great Mambo tunes. Instead, I fear I fell victim to utterly false advertising. Where, I ask, WHERE? in this movie is the great Mambo music and dancing that is implied by the title and the box cover??! The story, while thankfully nice and sweet, is nevertheless so lame I couldn't believe somebody could have concocted such a stupid story. I thought it was supposed to be about Mambo, and a dance contest, all wrapped up in a great love-interest kind of story. Well, all that is in there, but the movie, set in Belfast, Ireland, seems to spend most of its time lightly frittering about with boys' soccer, Catholic-Protestant rivalry, soccer, Belfast politics, more soccer, young men with hang-ups, and more soccer. Oh yeah, and there's a dance contest thrown in there somewhere. And then there's a dance finale that is so lame I had to stifle the painful laughter. And it even takes place…(drum roll please…) at halftime during a SOCCER competition!!The dancing (what pathetically little there is) is so minimal and simplistic it looks like it's just a guy and a girl doing a couple of whirls around the dance floor while wearing fancy costumes and lots of makeup. Big Deal!The soundtrack music – with the possible exception of only a couple of Latino-sounding numbers (was that really even Mambo music??) – is just not at all what the title implied (in fact some of the music sounds more like modern Americanized or Hollywoodized pop tunes). Heck, they don't even have much Irish music thrown in (methinks the movie could have used a rousing rendition of Whiskey in the Jar, "Blackball the Daddy-O!").Kerri Russell (as Lucy) is okay, I guess… but maybe I'm only giving her the benefit of the doubt because I liked her so VERY much in one of her earlier films, "The Lottery". But in this film, where she attempts to portray a young Irish woman, well… her Irish accent seems at times very ineffective, almost clumsy. And I'm not sure why they needed to give this part to an American girl anyway. Really, do you mean to tell me that there aren't scores of beautiful young Irish actresses who could have played this part instead? As mentioned above, based on the nature of the movie, there certainly isn't a dauntingly formidable dancing or acting requirement, so I don't think it would have required an endless search for the right lass. Oh well, stupid me, what do I know about the mysteries of casting?Anyway, I can't recommend this movie to anyone, with the possible exception of young teenagers who have absolutely no sense of music or dance appreciation, and who can't tell the difference between a real Irish brogue and a phony one - and who furthermore don't care. As for me, I CARE about getting real value for my entertainment dollar, and I'm sorry to say, I truly feel ripped off by this rather lame and (IMHO) falsely promoted movie. (And no, Seattle isn't really the Mambo capital of the world. I just thought that would sound funny. And besides, I'm tired of Grunge.)