Shall We Dance

Can Jennifer Lopez do no right? On the evidence of this clumsy and lame retreading of Masayuki Suo's Japanese original Shall We Dansu, it certainly seems so. Doing his best everyman impression (which isn't saying much, really), Gere plays John Clark, a middle-aged lawyer, married to Beverly (Susan Sarandon) with a couple of kids. Noticing a dance studio on his way to work every day, the bored John becomes intrigued by a woman, Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) who works there and decides to take some classes with her in an effort to spark up his life. Noting John's absence, Beverly soon gets suspicious that her husband may be conducting an illicit affair, and so hires a couple of gumshoes to get to the bottom of things.

Lacking the delicacy and subtlety of its gorgeous inspiration, this lumbering romantic comedy fails to convince. While the original was as much a comment on the reserved nature of Japanese society, too much has been lost in translation. Peter Chelsom's film is far too eager to please. With precocious little warmth or real consistency to the characters or screenplay, it would be tempting to say the actors don't have much of a chance. Yet even under these loose parameters Lopez's ass still does most of her acting for her, while Gere looks vaguely constipated when he's not dancing. But at least he's not leading with his behind.