Cooper Raiff and Dakota Johnson in Cha Cha Real Smooth (SXSW)

Cooper Raiff’s first film was the modest yet affecting Shithouse. Set on a college campus, a homesick and emotionally immature young student, played by Raiff, falls in love with the RA of his dorm (Dylan Gelula). While this film won’t blow anyone’s mind, and one could argue that its happy ending was improbable, it remains notable for the authenticity with which it portrays inarticulate young people and for its insistence that they can grow out of their awkwardness. It was a promising debut, though it did leave me wondering whether Raiff, who was barely out of college himself, would be able to make films outside the scope of (presumably) his own experience.

Cha Cha Real Smooth also has Raiff as its writer, director, and star, and it moves just a few inches forward in life: Andrew (Raiff) has just graduated from college, and has returned home to New Jersey, without much of a plan. He works at a fast-food chain called Meat Sticks, halfheartedly applies to jobs, and sends voice memos to his girlfriend, who is on a Fulbright in Barcelona. He is sweet, charismatic, and a little out of control, and clashes with his stepfather, Greg (Brad Garrett), but is on very good terms with his bipolar mother (Leslie Mann) and his 13-year-old brother David (Evan Assante). David is just at the age where he is getting invited to Bar and Bat Mitzvahs right and left, and one night Andrew acts as his chaperone, since his mother is on the rocks with some of the other mothers. Here he takes over for the struggling DJ and reveals his talents as a party starter, which quickly gains him both work and reputation among the parents in the community.

There he meets a young mother, Domino (Dakota Johnson), and her daughter, Lola (Vanessa Burghardt), who has autism. When, against all odds, he convinces Lola to get up on the dance floor, he gains Domino’s attention. Andrew ends up babysitting for Lola, and becoming much closer to Domino. The film follows the development of this relationship, alongside Andrew’s attempts to get a handle on his life.

Some of the strengths which made Shithouse memorable are on display in this movie. The acting is strong and natural, made more so by Raiff’s tendency to dwell on banal bits of conversation and weirdly specific details, and the portrayal of Lola is handled with dignity. (Burghardt, who has autism, apparently had plenty of input in the film’s writing.) The film’s embrace of awkwardness, especially that of early teens at Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, makes some scenes poignant and amusing, and the sweetness of Raiff’s vision will doubtless affect viewers at some point or another.  A generous estimation of his goal would be to embrace people in all their messiness and complexity, though he might also simply want to tell a heartwarming story.

It is on the latter count, I suppose, that Cha Cha Real Smooth succeeds, though by the end, it had more or less plummeted in my estimation. Though supposedly these characters are messy and flawed, and their writer/director generously permits them to be so, the film’s second half feels like a disguised PSA for behaving nice and having functional conversations. The tangled situation between Andrew and Domino is resolved with little friction and much kindness; they communicate with such incredible ease. Andrew delivers a “I just want to let you know how important you are to me” speech not only to Domino but to his brother and also his mother. The effect is maddening. Almost everyone performs some bittersweet act of forgiveness, and this does not feel organic. Rather, it feels like they’re all lining up and taking turns.

Add to this that many characters and situations are handled with such little realism that it is hard to step into the giant hug the film longs to envelop us in. I suppose that many younger siblings look up to their much older brothers, but David is little more than an agreeable lapdog who asks his brother for advice and has no qualms with him, except for the one scene where Andrew is mean to him. And though Lola does come across as an individual, there are many times when she feels like a prop for his kindness.

The biggest problem, however, might be with Andrew. His growing up is supposedly the major thrust of the film, made manifest by his acceptance of responsibility and his eventual decision to live his own life and not be enfolded in that of others. Yet there are no consequences at all to Andrew’s rash behavior, which includes being so drunk and argumentative that parents notice (he doesn’t lose his gig as a party starter), bombing a job interview (he still gets the job), and (spoiler) having a relationship with Domino that verges on the romantic, which her fiancé (the excellent Raul Castillo) clearly notices (Andrew is forgiven).

It is easy to see in retrospect that Shithouse worked because it stayed perfectly within the limits of a college experience. It made no further steps into the outside world. It had no further ambitions. Cha Cha Real Smooth, though, raises doubts about Raiff’s ability to address a wider range of experience.