Bootmen (2000)

This film was done to promote the Tap Dogs show and dance group, so don't expect complicated or sophisticated plot, cunning twists or even amazing acting.You can pretty much guess what happens, just from watching the trailer. There is nothing, plotwise, that hasn't been done before and the characters are all tried and tested stereotypes. Cinematography is solid and production quality is safe. There is a fair degree of bad language, which seems a touch out of place given that this film will appeal to a lot of young dance students. But none of this detracts from the basic underlying premise of the film... Basically, sit back, shut up and enjoy the fabulous tap dancing - That's what it's about and in that respect, it does NOT disappoint!!

This is an absolutely amazing film. It's not like all other dancing movies. It's tap. And it's men. It's a cross between Billy Elliot, and The West Side Story. I LOVED the taps, it was so cool to watch. Adam is really hot, and Sam's not to bad either...The only bad thing I saw about this movie is that the role of the girl was not convincing enough for us to fall in-love with her, or even like her. There was nothing to like. I think they should have gotten someone with more personality for this part. But on the other hand, maybe another girl would have up-staged the wonderful Adam. I recommend it to anyone who likes dancing, a good movie, and hot guys.

"No son of mine is going to tap dance for a living!" "When I tap, I feel I can do anything!" "You're mad! MAD! People just don't TAP that way!" "But don't you SEE? Tapping isn't just about steel-tipped shoes, it's about LIFE!" "This is our chance to DO something! This is our chance to make a difference!" "I love you!" "I love you, too!" "People just aren't ready for your kind of tap!" "I don't care! I'll show them. I'll show them all!"Okay, so I'm making these lines up. (It's amazing how quickly they come to you, once you let them.) But if these particular lines don't appear in "Bootmen", I suspect it's due to an oversight. They might as well. And I remember an "I love you" line, which, in context - there's nothing wrong with the three words per se - may well be the most embarrassing thing Sophie Lee has ever been called upon to say.Wanna hear a rich irony? Sean tries out his first-draft choreography on his performers, and one of them says (and I paraphrase), "Look - I know why this isn't working. It's just a collection of the same old tap routines that have been done a thousand times before. We're doing them funny hats, that's all." Sean sees the light and comes up with something NEW. He uses the SOUL of the steelworks to come up with a fresh, vibrant, STEELY kind of tap... I don't know why I'm being sarcastic; this is exactly what he should be doing. The irony is that "Bootmen" is exactly the same kind of let's-put-on-a-show movie that's been done a thousand times before. It's just a new kind of show. Granted, working class tap dancing may be fresh - although we aren't allowed to get a sense of its freshness - but none of this freshness or vigour seems to have infected the rest of the film.About that comment (I'm not sure whether or not it's an actual line from the film) - "It's been done a thousand times before"... this is never a fair criticism by itself, any more than "It will be done a thousand times in the future" is. The trouble with "Bootmen" is that it's stale, in the way that some bread is stale. You don't have to research the history of a stale loaf of bread to tell that there's something wrong with it; nor do you have to look at other loaves of bread. The badness of stale bread is intrinsic to the loaf. If "Bootmen" had been the only let's-put-on-a-show film ever made, it would STILL be stale. Every bit as stale. (Or, to look at it from another angle, if "The Full Monty" and "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Singin' in the Rain" and "Topsy-Turvy" had each had a dozen almost indistinguishable clones, they would still be every bit as fresh. But, alas, I was talking about "Bootmen"...)Here's all you need to know... Every second of screen time falls into one of three categories: (1) the dance routines themselves, which are there for their own sake; (2) the backstage preparation; (3) all that personal relationships stuff, and my, isn't there a lot of it. -Actually, I need to subdivide (1) - there's (1a), the few minutes of actual performed dance at the end, and (1b), the impromptu dance routines that people break into at such naturalistic prompts as, "Show us what ya got". Now here's the rundown. (1b) is fun. (1a) less so. (2) is poorly done, but not actually painful. But as for (3) ... boy, do we have to cringe our way through (3).

What else can I say but wow! I thought the story was really good, not at all unbelievable. I loved the whole brother thing with Sean and Mitch, they were so typically Australian! Go the flannelettes! I was really there for the dancing (and Adam Garcia) and it took a while to get there, but i loved it when he dropped the hammer at the steelworks and heard the sound and as they say, the rest is history! It was awesome when they started putting the show together, there was so much energy! And when "that thing" happened with Mitch, that was really sad and I thought it was cool that Sean kept going with the Bootmen thing. Ok, the dancing... Once again...wow! I can't believe how good they were! When they started doing the more macho dancing I was totally covered in goosebumps! And the sound of the taps on metal! It was brilliant! The energy coming out of those dance scenes was overwhelming! So 10/10 on the dancing easy! Adam Garcia... What can I say, the man's a legend! Not only is he absolutely, totally, indescribably hot! but he's an awesome (and I mean AWESOME!) dancer! I'll have him over the guy from Riverdance any day! This is the first movie I have seen with Adam in it and I hope it won't be the last! In case I haven't made my thoughts on Adam clear, here it is nice and simple... HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!So an easy 10/10 for the totally delicious (and talented of course) Adam Garcia! The only tiny thing that brought it down was the not-so-spectacular dancing at the beginning, but that got better half way through. But I'd rather have dancing than dialogue! In short (ha!), brilliant movie, great dancing, great actors, great body (thank you Adam!) and enough energy to blow the roof off! I wanna see it again! (and again and again and again...)