![Shall We Dance? [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51LS1hkzS7L._SL160_.jpg) | |
List Price: $29.99 | | Label: WALT DISNEY VIDEO
Salesrank: 5739
Released: May 6, 2008 |
| Our Price: $12.50 |
| Used Price: $13.99 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: Blu-ray |
|
Editorial Review:
Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez step out in a delightfully sexy comedy with a sizzling all-star cast! John Clark (Gere) is a meek workaholic who feels trapped in a dull, mind-numbing existence. But one night, his whole life changes when the sight of a beautiful dance instructor (Lopez) inspires him to break out of his mold and sign up for ballroom dancing lessons! Now, he'll have to step lightly -- and do some fancy footwork if he expects to keep his exciting new passion a secret from his family and friends. Also starring Academy Award® winner Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci, Shall We Dance? is another acclaimed crowd-pleaser from the studio that brought you Chicago!
Description of Shall We Dance? [Blu-ray]:
Something got lost in translation from 1996's critically acclaimed Japanese comedy, but the American remake of Shall We Dance? is not without charms of its own. In being transplanted from Tokyo to Chicago, the original version's subtle humor is shaken out of its cultural context, but this is an otherwise faithful adaptation in which a weary lawyer (Richard Gere) battles his mid-life crisis with ballroom dancing lessons, while his wife (Susan Sarandon) hires a private detective to see if he's cheating. Those expecting a Jennifer Lopez showcase will be disappointed; her role as the melancholy dance instructor keeps the beautifully lovelorn J-Lo on the sidelines, while a cast of standard-issue supporting characters (especially Stanley Tucci's clandestine faux-Latin dance lover) provide a generous dose of Hollywood-ized comic relief. All of this gives Shall We Dance? a polished sheen of mainstream entertainment that many viewers---and especially ballroom dancers--will find delightfully irresistible. --Jeff Shannon
Shall We Dance? [Blu-ray] Reviews:
PETER CHELSOM, OPUS 6 
2008-03-09 - **1/2 2004. Directed by Peter Chelsom. Average Hollywood gauged product about a man who discovers that he likes to dance. No artistic ambition here, just a camera that films Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon as if they were passing in front of the camera of your cell phone. The definitive movie about ballroom dancing still is Australian director Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom. This one is already forgotten.
Great movie 
2007-12-06 - What's not to like? Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon...this is a movie you can watch over and over again.
It's Great for fans of Richard Gere 
2007-11-01 - I bought it as a gift. She watches it alone, and can't get enough of him.
Void of all charm, an utterly pointless film... 
2007-10-08 - Where to begin, where to begin. First of all, this is not a Jennifer Lopez vehicle for any of you who think this is going to be another `Maid in Manhattan' or something of the sort. Jennifer's role is very small indeed and she hardly shines here. Jennifer Lopez is far from a great actress and she appears in far from great movies, but she has always been able to bring enough charm to her roles that her movies become enjoyable in their simplicity. Movies like `Maid in Manhattan' and `The Wedding Planner' are delightful despite their lack of real flare. Here though, with the film out of her hands so-to-speak she has no real chance of salvaging the wreckage, and what few scenes she does inhabit show no signs of her even trying.
The film follows John Clark, a middle aged business man who is apparently unhappy with his perfect life and so he decides to change things up by secretly attending ballroom dancing classes at a local studio. He soon finds that his business partner Link is also a secret dancer who hides his passion behind fake enthusiasm for sports like football. John's wife Beverly suspects John is having an affair with him working late and in better moods and so she hires a private detective to investigate only to uncover that her husband is dancing and is going to enter a competition.
The problem for me with `Shall We Dance' is that it is ultimately a pointless film with no real redeemable factors, aside from Stanley Tucci's hilarious if not over the top performance (I'm sorry but the whole wig thing had me in stitches). To me the whole midlife crisis thing was just a ploy to try and make this slush legit, which it doesn't. The performances are less than average really. Richard Gere is far from charming and his character is quite the bore. Susan Sarandon, a goddess on the screen, is wasted here. I'm still baffled she agreed to do this film. Lopez, as I said, is horrible here. Lisa Ann Walter is funny to a degree as the obnoxious Bobbie, but even her antics coupled with Tucci aren't enough to make even one viewing of this film worthwhile. It's not very often I find a film so utterly wasted, but this is one that I wish I had never wasted my time to witness and one I surely will never watch again.
Feel good movie 
2007-10-03 - This is definitely a chick flick. Richard Gere is a middle age man with a mid-life crisis going on, worn down by his unexciting day-to-day life. He's always wanted to learn ballroom dancing but hasn't for fear of what others might think, particularly his family. On a spur of the moment inclination, he decides to sign up for lessons and finds himself with an interesting assortment of characters who are also taking dance lessons. The students' goal is to ultimately compete in a dance off, which they do, with varying results. Gere's wife in the movie feels betrayed when she finds out what he's been doing, as she doesn't understand why he's been taking lessons. The fact that he has a young, sexy instructor doesn't help matters any. Gere and his wife reconcile at the end and women watching the movie wish they were the ones that Gere was looking at "like that."
This is a movie to watch when you want something light and to just have a good time.