Finding a passion you never knew you had is the
theme of Shall We Dance?, a wonderful new film from director Peter Chelsom
(Town and Country, Serendipity). Richard Gere stars as John, a successful
Chicago lawyer married to a beautiful woman (Susan Sarandon) with two great
kids. His life is going fine, but one day going home on the train he notices a beautiful woman
(Jennifer Lopez) gazing from the window of a dance studio. After a few more
nights passing her, he spontaneously gets off the train and signs up for dance lessons at
the studio. Just like that, his life changes.
This is one of the few films where the characters
are upper-middle class and not dysfunctional, just stuck in a rut, which I found quite refreshing.
This is a tale of people who are basically happy, but don’t realize that they’re
missing something in life until they find a creative passion, and that passion changes them
and everyone around them. Dance is a remake of a hit 1996 Japanese film of the
same name, although this Dance is retooled to fit American life and culture. The
acting is excellent and the dancing spectacular (the actors worked for months to master
ballroom dance). The film is funny (especially Stanley Tucci’s turn
as a closet dancer), touching, heartwarming, and inspirational, and it will make you want
to take ballroom dance lessons. This is one Dance class you won’t want to
miss.
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