Strictly Ballroom

This wildly off-beat comedy is about a male dancer ( Paul Mercurio ) who refuses to follow the accepted rules of ballroom dancing and creates his own style of choreography, which infuriates the ballroom dancing establishment. Before he's scheduled to compete in the Pan-Pacific ballroom championships, he's forced to take up a new partner ( Tara Morice ), a beginner who initially seems without promise. With his help, she turns into an assured and wonderful dancer. Baz Luhrmann 's visual style may be too bright, gaudy and exaggerated for some tastes, yet he treats his characters with compassion, which makes Strictly Ballroom such an engaging comedy. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine