Shall We Dance? (Full Screen Edition) | Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez

Shall We Dance? (Full Screen Edition) | Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez | Dance Fever

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Shall We Dance? (F...

	Shall We Dance? (Full Screen Edition) Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez Miramax, 2005 average customer review:based on 173 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Let's dance!

After seeing this film so many times I can't remember, I'm still trying to look as cool as Richard Gere. Hey, the guy can dance...of course J Lo ain't too shabby either. Get this, you'll be calling the dance studio.

Dance Fever

Jennifer Lopez stars in perfect movies for her. She is a delight. Richard Gere, funny, adorable, sweet. A nice story. You guys out there, learn to dance if you don't know how, you'll be soooooooo romantic.

Yes, Mr. Clark I would love to dance with you ...

Richard Gere plays Mr. John Clark, a contracts lawyer who commutes to and from work on the "El" (elevated train) in Chicago. Daydreaming and thinking about the day's events, he looks out the window. as he passes a red brick building with huge letters on the side, "Miss Mitzi's Dance Studio". He views Paulina, played by Jennifer Lopez, a beautiful dance instructor who is wistfully gazing out the window. He is captivated. When he sees her dancing, he is enticed to take ballroom dance lessons to help him break out of his humdrum predicatble existence. He lives in the suburbs, has two teenaged children, a girl and boy and a lovely wife of 19 years named Bev (Susan Sarandon) who is a successful department director in a high-end clothing store. He keeps his passion for dancing to himself ... until he discovers a co-worker at his office also has this secret passion.

Stanley Tucci plays a lawyer who is fascinated by sports, which he talks about at the office all the time but it is a ruse. His real passion is for dancing, which has been an interest since he was a teenager. Tucci is hilarious as he dons a wig over his otherwise bald head, during his macho dance routines. John Clark discovers his "secret" at a hot dance spot where his friend melts the dance floor and is the center of attention. Bev, John's wife, is getting suspicious why John keeps coming home late on Wednesday nights (dance lesson night). Her curiosity is further fueled by a coworker's concerns that her own husband is having an affair. One Wednesday night, Bev calls the office only to discover John had left for the day. She questions him about his activities and he explains he left the office but then had returned to finish his work (this explanation does not wash as he did not pick up the line when she called). Bev takes matters one step further and hires a private investigator to track her husband's moves, fearing an affair. Obviously, communication between them is at an all time low. They live parallel lives, sharing very little about their personal thoughts and feelings ...

Matters heat up between Paulina the dance instructor and John Clark after Miss Mitzi enrolls John and several other new students in a ballroom dance contest. John receives some one on one dance lessons with Paulina. The ballroom dance contest became the climactic experience for all the dancers. Miss Mitzi's students shone. Then an unexpected event changed the good fortune of John and his partner Bobbie. Bev and her daughter had secretly attended the performance and witnessed the circumstances. In the end, ball room dancing became the stimulus which helped revive the marriage of John Clark and his wife Bev. Ballroom dancing helped the other novice dancers discover courage in themselves and provided a successful foundation on which to build further succcess in life. Paulina also developed renewed confidence to pursue her career goals despite a setback which had initially led her back to teach dance lessons at Miss Mitzi's ...

Overall, the film was an overwhelming success in terms of how it tied together the disparate lives of some very different people who had only one thing in common, an interest in ball room dancing. The film is a huge success because of how it so beautifully conveys ball room dancing to be the stimulus which reawakens Mr. John Clark to come alive, break out of his mold, reconnect with himself, his wife and his life. It is done with creativity and complexity. The plot and story development was superbly done. The tensions which arise in his life and are resolved keep the attention of the viewer throughout the film. There are hilarious moments, too such as when John Clark discovers his coworker dancing like a macho super star with all the beautiful women ... such a contrast to his typical office persona. The fact that John Clark originally became interested in ball room dancing because of seeing Paulina, the beautiful dance instructor staring out the window ... provides more counterpoint of temptation, emphasizing the humdrum relationship with his wife. The film builds interest and fascination as the relationship between John Clark who is the student and Paulina, the exquisite dance instructor develops. The big question is ... will they or won't they connect into something more?

Peter Chilsom the director did a phenomenal job of matching the right actors and actresses for the various roles. The DVD special features section was especially well done , the interview with the Director, and various actors and actresses provided wonderful insights into how the film was made and the challenges of learning ballroom dance. I deduct one star for only this reason, the film needed some long shots of scenes in Chicago. The scenes were confined to either views along the way as Mr. Clark rode the train, the inside of the dance studio, the inside of the Clark's home, Mr. Clark's office, some dark dreary street scenes, a restaurant, or the ballroom. The film begins with Mr. John Clark on the "El" and one sees very little of the city at any time during the film. Chicago has uniquely attractive buildings for which it is famous and a stunningly beautiful water front, honing in on some of these during the film, perhaps as it began or ended would have enhanced the film enormously. Erika Borsos (pepper flower)

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Shall We Dance? I'd Be Delighted!

"Shall We Dance?" should be required to include this statement: "WARNING: This film can be habit forming". The dancing is wonderful and the music mesmerizing - especially "Santa Maria", the song used in a tango sequence. The poignant story focuses on a successful middle-aged attorney who, although a happy family man, is wondering if this is all there is. Chance brings him to a failing dance studio where he emerges the star dancer in his class of three appealing adult male students.

This editor is not a fan of the three major actors in this film. However, each performed well and deserve credit for helping create a film that can be likened to the Energizer Bunny: It just keeps going and going (around in one's head).

For its genre, this film deserves five stars but five should be reserved for a magnificent effort such as "Saving Private Ryan".

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nschielmann

Flashier remake of the earlier Japanese hit, although still an entertaining flick. It doesn't seem plausible (in today's American culture) to hide dance lessons from one's wife solely because one doesn't wish her to think one is unhappy with her efforts at the marriage. Much more believable is the possible shame of discovery due to culture, as is portrayed in the original. If you wish to experience a film that dwells more on the true joys of dance (rather than sexual tension that seems thrown in to draw a larger audience), and don't mind reading the screen, try the Japanese edition. The humor of this version is just a tad more vulgar, and definitely lives down to its PG-13 rating.

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