STRICTLY BALLROOM (1993)

STRICTLY BALLROOM (PG) Bouncy and chic, this Australian production features ballroom dancing as delirious camp-a kitschy parody of romantic ardor. Beneath the stylized glitz, the film resurrects (with a knowing wink) the shamelessly histrionic, what-I-did-for-love romanticism of Flashdance and Dirty Dancing. Can Scott (Paul Mercurio), the rebellious hero, find the courage to perform his own dance steps at the Pan Pacific tourament? Not unless he crawls out from under the thumb of his castrating mother (Pat Thomson), who is made to look like an evil parent out of a Twisted Sister video. With its cutesy-poo, is-it-schlock-or-is-it-camp gaudiness, Strictly Ballroom puts quotation marks around '80s cliches and then ends up wallowing in them anyway. It's a low-rent crowd pleaser the ''sophisticated'' audience can enjoy without feeling terminally declasse. B-

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