OK as fluff

Rating: 5/10 (2 April 2005)

Shall We Dance? (2004) Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Lisa Ann Walter, Anita Gillette, D: Peter Chelsom. Overworked middle-aged attorney Gere finds a change of pace by taking up ballroom dancing after he's intrigued by the lovely, loney-looking instructor (Lopez), whom he spots staring out the window of a downtown dance studio. Beginning to take dance lessons, he finally discovers the one passion that gives him release and happiness, unbeknownst to wife Sarandon and his family. The extraneous characters are done in broad-brush strokes, including a one-note Lopez, but are colorful and likable. Pleasant-enough fluff may be clumsy compared to its source, the Japanese film of the same name, but the dance numbers are alive, and it's a nice surprise that the romance is between the married Gere and Sarandon, not Gere and Lopez. 98 min., rated PG-13. ** Â½