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Shall We Dance?

October 15, 2004

Shall We Dance?
Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Bobby Cannavale, Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Nick Cannon and Jennifer Lopez

I need to get something out of my system before I start my review... YET ANOTHER DAMN MOVIE SET IN CHICAGO THAT WAS ACTUALLY FILMED IN CANADA! Except for the exteriors, the entire movie was filmed in Vancouver. It was originally going to be filmed in Toronto (of course!) but they moved it after the SARS scare. Stupid.

Anyway, here we go.

John Clark is a bored, overworked estate lawyer in Chicago. Every night on his way home on the el he sees a sad looking woman with a big ass staring out of the 3rd floor window of a dance studio. Something about J.Lo intrigues him and sticks in his brain. Or his craw or his crotch or where ever J.Lo makes people feel sticky, and he can't stop thinking about her. Despite the fact that he has a loving wife and family and a decent job and friends, he can't help but feel there is something missing from his life. So one day on a whim he gets off the train and heads up to the dance studio and with trepidation, joins a class.

He is hoping that JLo, is his teacher but in fact it is the elderly Miss Mitzi. The class consists of 2 other men: Chic and Vern. Chic claims that he joined the class to meet chicks and Vern said he wants to learn how to dance and to lose weight for his wedding to Mya. They all seem disappointed that the only other female dancer (after Miss Mitzi) is Bobbie, an obnoxious semi-professional dancer without a partner.
After a few classes, John's wife Beverly starts to wonder where he is late Wednesday nights and thinks he is having an affair. For some reason, John feels the need to keep the dance classes a secret from her, I think because he initially took the classes because he saw JLo and wanted to tap that ass and doesn't want to admit that (naturally) but he also doesn't want to admit that he felt something missing in his life because it would reflect poorly on his marriage.

Well, one day at class he runs into Link, a bald co-worker of his. I mention that he is bald because during class, Link has this bizarre persona where he wears a crazy-ass wig that makes him look like a Latino Fabio (not a good thing.) John is surprised to see him there but happy because now he has someone at work he can talk to about dancing. It seems that after JLo's icy reception of John and her overall bitchiness towards...well, everyone, John has learned to love the dance! Yee-haw!
So Miss Mitzi convinces John to be Bobbie's partner in the big dance-off and I don't want to spoil what happens but it is a pretty good, if not overused, plot device.
I know this movie seems trite and stupid but it was actually pretty good. I liked that JLo and John do not have a romance. It isn't about sex it is about him discovering something in him. There were a few plot holes and unnecessary characters (like John's son. There was no need for this character considering he had all of 2 scenes but the daughter had a much bigger part.)

Shall We Dance is a great winter Sunday afternoon movie. Make a point to see it or at the very least at it to your Netflix account next year.

My Grade: B+

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