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Back Shelf Beauties
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Shall We Dance? Jennifer Lopez is back in the Cineplex, which might be driving most of you to your dusty Y2K bomb shelters instead of down to the local box office, but don't worry. Shall We Dance is not about her. It's about Richard Gere, and he's someone you can like. Gere stars as John Clark - a successful estate planner in Chicago with two kids and a wonderful wife, Beverly (Susan Sarandon). On the surface, he has everything you might want out of life, but this is a movie, so something has to be wrong. John feels an emotional emptiness and depression as he spends his days helping people prepare for death. Each night, as he rides home on The El, John looks out and sees a forlorn, beautiful woman, Paulina (Jennifer Lopez), staring out the window of a dance studio. Looking for some excitement, he goes to the studio so he can dance with her, but soon learns dancing is unleashing something wonderful inside of him. Now, he is hooked, but doesn't think anyone will understand his new passion. Will John get that dance with Paulina? How will he explain it all to his family? Shall We Dance is based on a wonderful Japanese movie I recommended in my book, Back Shelf Beauties (not the most subtle plug for my book, but you gotta work 'em in where you can). In the Japanese version, writer/director Masayuki Suo dealt with that culture's repression of emotion, which made me wonder how the film would be handled in a culture like ours where emotional openness is an epidemic. In this American version, writer Audrey Wells and director Peter Chelsom rightly focus on John and his discomfort with what he is expected to be. In his family, John is Dad and husband, expected to be the rock and the old fuddy duddy, but he needs something else, which Chelsom does a wonderful job showing us. Wells shapes a story that doesn't make John into a philanderer looking for an extra-marital affair, which let's us accept him as a good guy and our hero, while Chelsom shows us thrilling and comedic dance scenes when each is called for. He establishes a magical, feel good tone to the movie as we follow John and his fellow ragtag class of misfits find personal happiness by letting go and enjoying these Wednesday night classes where they can be themselves away from the judgmental eyes of the world. Because of this story and the direction by Chelsom, we get to watch an expert actor steal our hearts. Gere is amazing. He allows the audience to watch his character slowly open up and come to life again as John becomes more accepting of how dancing makes him feel, and starts to lead others to the same personal life resuscitation. I don't think I have ever seen Gere so full of joy, and he uses this to fill the character with a happiness that is infectious. After seeing him in Chicago, we know Gere is a very accomplished dancer, and it is a joy to watch him display his skills with a different style of dancing. The supporting cast has its wonderful moments as well, but it might not be the big names you are expecting. Sarandon doesn't have much to do, but she gets one great scene where Beverly reveals her belief about why we marry in a nicely written speech from Wells that reveals something about her character and how she feels about her husband and love. Stanley Tucci gets some nice moments as John's co-worker who has pretended for years to love sports, when he really loves dancing. His subplot about the role of dancing in his life and what he hopes to find through it is touching and comical, but not one that takes up too much time nor does it divert us from the main plot. Bobby Cannavale and Omar Benson Miller are fine as John's fellow beginner's class dancers, and Anita Gillette is fantastic as the eccentric teacher, but Lopez appears to be somewhat out of place. Lopez doesn't have the same ballroom dancing abilities as Gere, so she comes off as stiffer and colder, but the dancing isn't all to blame. I felt like Lopez never allowed us to connect with her very sympathetic character and doesn't show half the life and emotion of Gere. She never leaps off the screen like the other actors as if she isn't sure of herself among this talented group. Maybe Chelsom needed to do something to push her out there, but Lopez has been much better. Shall We Dance has a resolution that runs a little long, but you will walk out with a huge smile on your face and a spring in your step. 3 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4) Copyright 2004 - WaffleMovies.com
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