Right when I assumed that freshness was a good
thing in all movies, Shall We Dance? came and
slapped me in the face. Yes, it is a thoroughly
predictable movie with average characters, but director
Peter Chelsom tends to defy narrative-conventions more
often than he conforms to them, throughout the duration.
Shall We Dance?, rather than being a romance
about finding love, like so many other films of its
kind, tells a story about one about appreciating the
concept itself. For awhile, it is enjoyable, but by the
halfway point, the movie becomes so repetitively dull,
many viewers will find themselves wishing that they were
watching the average clichéd plot play out, instead.
I will grant the premise that
it works well for the fifty minutes that it is welcome
for. In Shall We Dance?, John Clark (Richard Gere)
is a middle-aged estate lawyer, who has become bored
with his occupation and his wife, Beverly (Susan
Sarandon), and teenage daughter, Jenna (Tamara Hope),
even though his life continuously treats him well.
Looking to spice his everyday routine up a bit, he
decides to sign up for dance classes, after countless
evenings of staring out from his train-ride-home’s
window at the enticing Paulina (a partly unintentionally
hilarious Jennifer Lopez) in her downtown studio. These
group-lessons excite him and he enjoys the company he
has during them, but keeps them a secret from his
family, out of a combination of embarrassment and a
longing for privacy.
When John first starts to
dance, Paulina is a major motivation for him to continue
his lessons; the act of adultery would be awfully
tempting if she was interested in him. With this in
mind, John’s regularly delayed commute home from work
becomes suspicious to Beverly, and after hearing stories
from co-workers about unfaithful husbands, she decides
to hire a private investigator to monitor her husband.
By then, though, John has developed a passion for
tapping his toes, and sex is no longer a major influence
in his hobby. Stunned that all he has been up to is
dancing, Beverly looks at him in a bit of a different
light, still puzzled what to think of his lessons.
As perfectly executed as some
of the performances may seem, particularly those from
Gere, Lisa Ann Walter (as an obnoxious dance partner of
John’s), and Anita Gillette (as John’s regular dance
teacher and Paulina’s co-worker), I can’t help but think
that they are part of the reason that Shall We Dance?
did not turn out being a better movie than it is. If
these certain members of the cast had crafted more
interesting and consistently entertaining characters,
then the film probably would’ve been more enjoyable,
during its last-half. Then again, perhaps the blame for
its decline in quality should be primarily directed
towards screenwriter Audrey Wells, for not writing this
intrigue into the movie, when adapting Masayuki Suo’s
script, which birthed the original version of Shall
We Dance?, a Japanese film.
On the other hand, Omar Benson
Miller, Bobby Cannavale, and Susan Sarandon all act
wonderfully in the film. The former two play John’s
fellow dancing apprentices with an amazing sense of
comic joy, and embrace the audience, warmly. Some of the
best sequences in Shall We Dance? are those that
were choreographed down to the very last step; it is
always amusing to watch Gere, Miller, and Cannavale jump
and sway, humorously. With that said, it is unfortunate
that the empathic type of these scenes becomes
significantly sparser, as the film progresses. Sarandon
is the only constant good in the film; watching her in
it, I forgot entirely about her total liberal idiocy.
Shall We Dance? has all
of the ambitions required of a good movie, and this is
partially why it is, in a sense, shameful, that it comes
up short of being such. Nevertheless, it will make for a
DVD that is worth dedicating a Saturday evening to, in a
few months. And, if that is not enough, American
interest in the supposedly masterful Japanese original
is likely to boost tenfold, as a result of this remake’s
release. With these two things in mind, I suppose
Shall We Dance?’s honest attempt at genuineness,
even if failed to a certain degree, will help more than
it will hurt, in Hollywood. I am far from fully
recommending it, but this is not to say, by any means,
that one could not do worse, when planning their next
trip to the local multiplex.
-Danny, Bucket Reviews (11.10.2004)