Cuban Fury: 'the meanest salsa moves that ever clicked heels across an English dance floor'

The British and the Japanese both have a terrible self-image and a huge capacity for self-deprecation. Which probably explains why my Japanese friends are already marking the date to go see "Cuban Fury," starring English comedy actor Nick Frost.

Frost plays Bruce Garrett, who was a brilliant salsa dancer when he was 13, before a traumatic incident on the mean streets of London deprived him of his confidence and dancing skills. Twenty-two years later he is over the hill, overweight and has nothing to live for until gorgeous American executive Julia (Rashida Jones) lands in his office. Electrified with love, Bruce tries to woo Julia with the meanest salsa moves that ever clicked heels across an English dance floor.

So far, so "Shall We Dance" (the original 1996 Japanese version), but Bruce's clunkiness makes Koji Yakusho look like a sex machine in a salaryman suit. Still, bless his salsa soul, Bruce can dance. There's something holy about a man willing to go out on a limb, knowing it could snap any minute under his considerable weight. The tag line is "Real Men Dance" — truer words were never spoken.