No...let's not. You might think I like you or something.

Rating: Null/10 (16 October 2004)

Eeeeeuuuugh.
OK, let's not pander here. Bearing in mind that the original film carried with it a social significance that this version lacks, a strong effort from performers such as Richard Gere and Stanley Tucci is weighed down by the two-tone performance that Jennifer Lopez phones in. Lopez should be blocked from any further attempts to make films. This is a cold, cruel fact, and yet it seems to elude most people in Hollywood.
Looking at the other performances in the film, Richard Gere seems to have finally rediscovered his niche in Hollywood. Following his work in "Chicago", giving a graceful man a chance to show that he can not only dance, but dance incredibly well, bodes well and seems to hearken back to the golden days of cinema. Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly, and Fred Astaire are poorly represented these days when "You Got Served" is the closest approximation we have to the Fosse legacy.
Susan Sarandon...well, she has her fans, she has her talents, but I will never understand the idea of her being "sexy", looking to me more like the aliens in "They Live". Casting her as Gere's wife seems confusing given her own dominating screen presence; she seems through a chunk of the film to be closer to handing him his butt than wondering why he's suddenly shaking it. A talented woman miscast.
Stanley Tucci...brilliant. If this doesn't give him at least consideration for a Golden Globe or Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, then he will be the most robbed man since Prince John.
And then there's J-Lo. To paraphrase Bill Corbett, she wanders around either looking like she's got gas or has been slapped with a dead fish. The effects to make her skin seem lustrous instead make her look like she's about to re-enact a female-led production of "Halloween". Michael Myers-ballroom style!
There is almost no chemistry between Lopez and Gere. He is outgoing, reaching his co-stars with a vibrancy reminiscent of his heyday in "Pretty Woman". Lopez, however, turns even being aloof into an exercise in tedium, doubtless wondering whether or not she can add a slash to her name ("...singer/dancer/actress/pro bowler...?")
Would I recommend this film? The original version, certainly. If this version were on TV, sure. Watch for Gere and Tucci primarily. Better still to get the video out so you can, like most people, fast forward on to the better parts and get pics of her elsewhere.