The uncertainties of the pandemic might have skewered plans to host a hybrid festival – it was originally hoped to combine an in-person event in Park City, Utah with an online option – but certain Sundance truths remain inviolable. Key among them is the fact that even without the heady effect of all that mountain air, and despite a selection this year that is unlikely to go down as one for the ages, Sundance buzz remains a powerful force with the potential to propel a small film to big results. This year, however, there is little that has combined crowd-pleasing credentials with critical consensus.
Perhaps the main contender for crossover success is Cha Cha Real Smooth, the second film from American Gen Z wunderkind Cooper Raiff (Shithouse), who wrote, directed and stars in a sweet, funny and almost painfully earnest drama about a directionless 22-year-old college leaver (an endearingly puppyish Raiff) who falls hard for Dakota Johnson’s thirtysomething divorcee with an autistic daughter. On paper, it’s an archetypal Sundance movie – emotionally engaging, honest, with just a hint of grit – but my gut says that some slightly sniffy reviews have misjudged the broad appeal of this one.
