Did you people see the same film I saw?

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I had forgotten about this film and I live in Sydney. NOT the public success it should have been and I suspect a major commercial disappointment for the ambitious producer, this film suffers so badly by stridently trying to be butch to avoid the poofy dancing thingy image. So trowled onto our heads is the "I'm tough - but I er, dance y'know" yobbo dialogue it severely pulls the patience of the audience away from enjoying the dynamic dance routines. In fact, it is also so SERIOUS and full of retarded bumpkin behaviour, someone forgot the jokes. BILLY ELLIOTT and FULL MONTY cover the same industrial tough family territory but they have hilarious moments and are properly fleshed out characters. BOOTMEN is just crude and embarrassing...until the dancing starts. Director andChoreographer extraordinaire Dein Perry upon whom this is based and whose live shows were a massive hit in the 90s mis-serves this Barry McKenzie take on his craft. One can see the stardom on the horizon for Adam Garcia but it is Sam Worthington who is the major talent here. He is only NOW just getting the recognition he deserves from SOMERSAULT just released. Viewers should check out the excellent crime caper DIRTY DEEDS for another level of his talent. BOOTMEN got the boot on first release and on TV as it is tonight, is is still a cringing experience...until the dance numbers (and they all shutup and concentrate). The awful Ric Carter, a failed 80s comedian is the absolute worst of this bad drama (but good dance pic).

The image that flashes through my mind when I hear the word " Aussies " is of a bunch of butch hard drinkers who enjoy nothing better than waking in a police cell after a drinking session followed by a bar room brawl .... and that`s just the women . According to my mate Dr Sebastian who spends a lot of time down under this is a laughably cliched stereotype and Australians are the nicest friendliest people on Earth . Mind you Seb is a six foot three Scotsman so everyone`s nice to him .You can see what I`m getting at about stereotypes though ? because strangely BOOTMEN does feature the type of Aussies who take a drink and commit crimes and enjoy the sound of knuckle against cheekbone . Even stranger despite the mythical portrayal of Australians in this movie no one really gives the main protagonist Sean a hard time for wanting to become a dancer even though he works at a steel mill . A worker at an Australian steel mill wants to become a dancer and no one accuses him of being " A bloody wooftah " , now that takes some swallowing and I guess that`s why some people dislike BOOTMEN , it is slightly obvious that the story was written around the dance sequences but it could have been far worse , it could have been a plagaristic cross between THE FULL MONTY and BILLY ELLIOT or a camp Baz Luhrmann type production but at least BOOTMEN has an identity all of its own . BOOTMEN is a simple story of people trying to pursue their dreams , it`s funny , romantic , sometimes gritty and foul mouthed , sometimes violent but always entertaining with an absolutely brilliant dance sequence at the end and is by far the greatest Australian film since ROMPER STOMPER.If you`ve ever seen the dance troupe Stomp or these idents on BBC1 featuring the dancers and thought " Hmm that lifts the spirits " then you`ll enjoy this movie . I know I certainly did

"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...)