Charming

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2014)

Lawyer John has everything, but still feels somewhat discontented. On his train ride home he frequently sees a woman looking wistfully from the window of a dance studio and, on a whim, signs up for dance lessons. He keeps the lessons secret from his family: could this be because mysterious dance instructress Paulina holds some sort of promise for him?
This rather gentle movie has a lot of dance sequences, some veiled romance with mild suspense over what might happen, quite a lot of humour, and decent performances. Richard Gere holds everything together well, Susan Sarandon as wife Beverly gives some feeling to what is essentially a functional part, and Jennifer Lopez does well as the emotionally conflicted Paulina, a rather awkward and angular character.
I liked it: if I actually liked dance, I would have liked it much more.