I'm in the mood for dancing.

Rating: 7/10 (22 April 2009)

Chicago lawyer John Clark is drawn to the lonely face at a dance studio window he sees from his journey home each evening. Finally one day he decides to jump off the train and go sign up for dance lessons, thus filling a void in his near perfect life. Trouble is, is that his wife thinks he's having an affair and hires a private detective to tail him.
Shall We Dance? is the American remake of Masayuki Suo's beguiling and much loved 1996 picture, Shall We Dansu? Met with the usual howls of derision that comes with the announcement of another Asia remake from Hollywood, it's somewhat refreshing to find that Peter Chelson's film is actually charming and proof positive that American remakes can work if handled with care. Fuelling it with a more comedic tone than the original obviously helps the piece, and not being the kind of tacky romance picture so hated by many is surely a bonus. Outside of the zippy nature of the dance sequences, after the natural funny set up of the two left footed gentlemen, what chiefly works is the dynamic of the characters at Miss Mitzi's dance studio, each one having their own little reason for being there, as seemingly poles apart characters share one delightful goal.
The cast, led by the sadly undervalued Richard Gere {John Clark}, work real well, even Jennifer Lopez {Paulina}, who at a stretch could be called an average actress, works well within the tightly scripted piece. Honours arguably go to Stanley Tucci as wig wearing, tan sprayed, work colleague of Clark, Link Peterson, whilst Anita Gilette {Miss Mitzi} is positively wonderful. Truth is is that it's an ensemble piece where it comes together nicely to form a charming picture, it's only main flaw being that we are asked to believe that modern day men feel stigmatised by ballroom dancing. Utter rubbish as far as I'm concerned, there are few things as elegant as The Waltz, or as sensual as The Rumba, and you can take that to the dance studio! 7/10