Better than I anticipated.

Rating: 7/10 (3 October 2004)

I was lucky enough to get to see an early screening of this movie last night.
I loved the Japanese version of this movie, and was frankly dubious regarding its translation to an American modality. The premise in the original is that the gentleman is culturally ingrained to be ashamed of public displays. I thought it might be difficult for anyone to convince an audience that a middle aged American man had that problem.
They solved the problem by ignoring it and creating another form of tension in the form of the American accountant feeling guilty for his lust for the dance teacher (Jennifer Lopez) and not wanting to admit it to his wife and family.
The dancing was fun, the costumes were fantastic. Stanley T. was exemplary.
The man who played the detective, and his assistant were both outstanding.
I liked that a number of the scenes were true to the original.
The vignettes at the end, where it wrapped up the lives of all the persons in the movie seemed a bit like overkill, but then, it was nice to know what happened to everyone. I could have done without the scene in the gay bar though.
Al in all, it was a fun movie. Definitely enjoyed seeing it. The actors and film crew did a good job bringing a viable version of the story to the American screen.