This article discusses the ending of the Apple TV+ film Cha Cha Real Smooth, which will contain spoilers.
Film critic M.N. Miller calls Cha Cha Real Smooth “Funny, wonderful, and heartfelt.”
Writer and director Cooper Raiff have established himself as one to watch. With Cha Cha Real Smooth and his breakout freshman effort, Sh*thouse, he is a filmmaker who can show a sensitive vulnerability that reflects today’s modern masculinity. Here, Andrew (Raiff) is a recent graduate of Tulane University. He has a degree in marketing but works at a mall called Meat Sticks. He lacks little ambition and is only concerned about joining his girlfriend abroad. Even though she is cheating on him based on her social media posts, he lives with his mom (Leslie Mann) and stepfather Greg (Brad Garrett) and repeatedly breaks his balls every chance he gets.
His mother avoids taking Andrew’s younger brother David (Evan Assante) to a bar mitzvah. She had a manic episode due to her being bipolar, so Andrew volunteers. He also wants to go to see his friend Macy, who will be there because it’s her little brother’s party. There, Andrew gets the party going when it hits a lull. He meets a single mother, Domino (Dakota Johnson), trying to get her daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt) to dance. She has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), so all she wants to do is listen to music and play with her Rubrics Cube. Andrew flirts with Domino but is sweet to Lola and does not have the hint of it being a facade. Under his snarky exterior, Andrew is a sweetheart.
Domino bets him he cannot get Lola on the dance floor. He convinces her to join him when he offers his winnings to Lola. What is that? A MoYu 13×13 Magic Cube. Not only is Domino now smitten with Andrew, landing him a sitter job for Lola, but all the mothers want to hire him as the party starter for bar mitzvah season. He also sleeps with Macy, so it’s been a REALLY good week.
After his second party starter gig, he is caught drinking vodka. But he redeems himself by helping Domino leave after she has a miscarriage in the restaurant bathroom. Andrew defends Lola against a little bully who makes fun of her. Andrew gets them home safely, puts Lola to bed, and talks to Domino before he calls an Uber. She kisses him, but he resists because he does not want to take advantage of her after that situation.
Even though Domino is engaged to a successful lawyer, he travels a lot, is lonely, but feels a connection to Andrew. She hires him to watch Lola, and they have talks after. Domino tells him the things that she wants that scare her the most. When Andrew pushes the issue during a late-night conversation, he can tell she keeps wanting to tell him something but is holding back. She immediately kisses him. And before things can go any further, Domino hears her fiance come home early from Chicago. She then forces Andrew to go out of the back of the house.
The next time Andrew is supposed to see Domino is when he brings Lola to his next job. But it is Joseph who brings Lola. Andrew accuses him of controlling Lola and demands to know where she is after he tells him they won’t be needing him to watch Lola anymore. Joseph, who acts like an adult, excuses himself. However, Andrew isn’t done protecting Lola. When a group of bullies is harassing her, Andrew steps up when he sees his little brother defending her.
He leaves with his family and later drives to Domino’s house. Andrew tells her that he loves her and she doesn’t want to marry Joseph. Yes, she feels alive with him, but he is only 22 years old, and he doesn’t know who he is yet. She tells him that she wants to marry her fiance. She is just scared because the first one left her. That is what Domino meant the other day, and Andrew is crushed. She meant marrying Joseph frightened her the most, not her feelings for Andrew. Then Joseph drives up. Andrew walks briskly to his car, upset, almost crying, and Joseph knocks on his window.
While trying to start the car, Andrew apologizes and says he is just a stupid kid. Joseph leans in and asks him to look at him. In a sequence of stunning maturity, Joseph replies, “I know.” And thanks him for watching out for his family tonight. Andrew drives off, finally showing self-awareness, and pulls the car over because he has been drinking. He calls his mom, asks for a ride, and cries.
Apple TV+ film Cha Cha Real Smooth ending explained
Andrew is now still a stupid kid, but at an age where he is mature enough to make adult decisions, he has to deal with the consequences. His script is a coming-of-age infantilism comedy concerned with stunted growth at any age and how mental health can be easily masked. At the 55-minute mark of the film, you may notice that Domino’s speech about depression takes on greater meaning and mirrors Andrew’s issues of depression on how she didn’t realize what she was going through.
Andrew grows up and gets a job at an organization that helps ASD. He later sees Domino one more time when picking up David from school. She explains how she never defined herself because she had Lola so young and set her schedule. She tells him how he can be single and figure things out like she never could. Andrew laughs and realizes this is the last time they will ever talk. Domino gives him a card and tells her that he knows he is her soulmate but knows Joseph is too.
We see Andrew crying in his car and watch Domino and Lola leave the parking lot. David tells him that he had his first kiss, and Andrew lets him know he will be moving out soon. Later, David comes to Andrew crying. He says he is heartbroken. Not because of any issue with his new girlfriend, but because his big brother is moving out. The last scenes are a montage of Andrew and Domino moving on and embracing their lives.
What do you think of the ending of the Apple TV+ film Cha Cha Real Smooth? Comment below.
