Bootmen (2000)

Bootmen: Directed by Dein Perry. With Vaughan Sheffield, Christian Patterson, Lisa Perry, Sam Worthington. Charismatic tap dancing Sean tries to find a way out of working at the steel mill. When failure brings him home he starts his own dance group wearing hardhats. He must then find inspiration in the steel mill he once tried to escape.

“Yes, I thought the dancing was awesome. Just a pity to have to sit through such a tedious and poorly thought-out non-story to enjoy those few minutes of it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNothing fitted. Nothing added up. Sean set off from Newcastle to Sydney like he was going to the end of the world, when itu0026#39;s a journey he would do on his motorbike in well under the running time of the movie. Heu0026#39;s landed a part performing in the chorus of a big dance show there – his big break towards stardom. Does his beloved Linda drive down in that fast sports car of hers to see him on opening night? No, she sits at home by the phone waiting for him to ring. Aaaaaaaaaaah! Sophie Lee as bimbo extraordinaire! Guess all she had to do was act naturally.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut it was all part of a plot that was totally pathetic. Just not credible. Right from the start of the movie the horrid nasty baddy and his gang of thugs had been in an escalating crime war with Mitch as their sole adversary. And this ends with a scene on a high overhead gantry with the baddie drawing a vicious knife and trying to gut the unarmed Mitch like a fish. Yet he is apparently horrified, remorseful even, when Mitch falls to his death in trying to escape him. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Strictly Ballroomu0026quot; wove a plot that had lots of elements of fantasy, but beautifully depicted them thus amidst the sequins and glitter. That was why it was able to succeed so very well as a dance movie with a story to tell and a tearjerker happy ending. u0026quot;Bootmenu0026quot; couldnu0026#39;t or wouldnu0026#39;t leave for single second the grim reality of its harsh meanstreets and decaying heavy industry backdrop, and asked us to accept strictly at face value a story that was just woefully full of holes. 1 point for the plot, 5 for the dancing. Total 6/10”