| MOVIE REVIEW: Shall We Dance?
CAST: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon
AT: Carmike, Commonwealth, Short Pump, Virginia Center
FYI: Running time: 1:30. Rated PG-13 (sexual references, brief language)
Is there any man alive who looks better in a tux, or white tie and tails, than Richard Gere?
Gere gets two chances to wear formal wear in "Shall We Dance?" which means two more chances to prove he wears it better than anyone since Fred Astaire.
Gere dances nowhere near as well as Astaire, who coincidentally also starred in a movie called "Shall We Dance." But he doesn't have to. In this movie, Gere plays a talented amateur, or at least a dedicated one.
He stars as John Clark, a Chicago estate planner adrift in a fog of sadness and ennui. Every day on his way home, he sees the lovely and sad face of Jennifer Lopez in the window of a dance studio.
On an impulse, he signs up for lessons at that same studio. But he doesn't tell his busy but loving wife, Susan Sarandon, about them.
Why not? Well, that's a problem with this version of the story. The original telling of this story was a charming 1996 Japanese film also called "Shall We Dance," and in Japan social dancing carries with it a social stigma.
In the original, he didn't tell his wife because he was embarrassed. In the new version, poor Audrey Wells had to write her way through several hoops to give a rationale for John not telling his wife.
But that is the only major misstep, so to speak, in this delightful dance movie.
Gere is a good choice to play John. Someone like John Travolta, for instance, could never convince audiences that he cannot dance. But anyone who saw "Chicago" knows that Gere can't dance.
More importantly, Gere is excellent at portraying a vague and inexpressible unhappiness in the face of external success. Maybe it's best not to examine too deeply why he is so good at showing this particular experience.
And Sarandon is even better as his wife, who begins to suspect that he may be having an affair. She is believably loving, hopeful and suspicious all at the same time, and a brief moment she and Gere share in the kitchen is the best expression of marital love we've seen in a movie in a long time.
Like the Japanese film it is based on, this picture is largely a study of the eccentric characters who hang out at the dance studio. Lopez is beautiful but is the weakest link in the strong supporting cast. Still, the former Fly Girl still knows how to move on the dance floor.
Anita Gillette has a ball as the patient dance instructor, while Bobby Cannavale and Omar Benson Miller make a lovable Greek chorus of fellow novices. Lisa Ann Walter is appealingly abrasive as the dance partner nobody wants. And Stanley Tucci especially stands out as John's unusual colleague at work.
"Shall We Dance?" is a feel-good movie that actually makes you feel good. In that category, movies called "Shall We Dance" are now three for three.
- Times Dispatch | |
