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Shall We Dance?
Miramax Films


6.5

based on 33 reviews
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based on 33 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual references and brief language

Starring Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Bobby Cannavale, Anita Gillette, Lisa Ann Walter, Omar Miller, Richard Jenkins, and Nick Cannon

A workaholic lawyer's life and marriage take an unexpected twirl when he follows a beautiful woman to a Chicago dance studio and becomes a clandestine ballroom dance competitor. (Miramax)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Musical \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Audrey Wells Masayuki Suo (1997 screenplay)
DIRECTED BY:	Peter Chelsom
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 1, 2005 Video: February 1, 2005 Theatrical: October 15, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	106 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The new film compensates with Gere's wry performance as a man who lacks for nothing material but hungers for something spiritual. Even better is Stanley Tucci's delirious turn as Gere's balding, button-down colleague.

Premiere Peter Debruge

This is Gere’s movie, and Sarandon and Lopez graciously let him dance away with it.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A warm-hearted and understated entertainment that's blissfully free of the heavy-handed crudity and other elements that have ravaged 21st-century Hollywood comedy.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Gere is a pleasure, smiling and spinning and high-fiving his two classmates -- played by Bobby Cannavale and Omar Miller -- and the movie is happy and extremely likable.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Conventional as it may be, Shall We Dance? offers genuine delights. The fact that Paulina is uninterested in romance with John comes as sort of a relief, freeing the story to be about something other than the inexorable collision of their genitals.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

It's an intelligent, funny, mature comedy that wears its heart on its sleeve and makes you care about the inner lives of ridiculously privileged human beings.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

As glossy and overproduced as the thing is, it's a GOOD Big Stupid American movie.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A sleek Hollywood crowd-pleaser, more movie than art film, but its makers have wisely stuck not only to the spirit but often even to the letter of the original.

Austin Chronicle Steve Davis

When it works, Shall We Dance? has a way of sweeping you off your feet.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Goes too far in its slapstick efforts to please mainstream audiences, but there's no denying the genuine appeal of -- and I can't believe I'm actually writing this -- Richard Gere and ballroom dancing.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

I walked out of the original Shall We Dance? with a silly grin on my face. I left this one shaking my head, wondering where it had all gone wrong.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

The movie tries hard to duplicate the original's mood and story, but, like Gere or Lopez, is too much of a visual knockout to rope us in.

Variety Todd McCarthy

An unabashedly old-fashioned entertainment loaded with traditional dancing and music.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

An old- fashioned feel-good fantasy that piles on the euphoria.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

Only Lopez, the film's ostensible star, seems to be struggling; she's a lovely dancer, but the only reason Lopez's expressionless performance isn't this sweet picture's downfall is that the script makes so few demands on her.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Considering the talent on both sides of the camera and a story that worked beautifully the first time around, Shall We Dance? should have been a lot better than OK.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

The movie feels choppy and rhythmless. And he's (Chelsom) rather hopeless at dance sequences.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The warm performances give the film momentum, but writer Audrey Wells and director Peter Chelsom (who chops dance sequences clumsily) often stumble.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The movie never gives its heart freely and honestly to the satiny whirl of post-"Chicago" showbiz spectacle it so clearly wants to be.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Runs out of breath and collapses into a heap of feel-good endings that turn a soaring feeling into a sinking one. But by then, the audience that adores it will forgive it its sins.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Shall We Dance?, which roams all over the emotional map without landing anywhere, is an unwieldy mess that gives every impression of having been made under a mandate to fill the Miramax crowd-pleaser slot.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Chelsom has transformed a low-key charmer into an overblown shtick-com whose idea of restraint only extends to forgoing wacky sound effects, a laugh track, and amplified rim-shots every time a character delivers a wisecrack.

Village Voice David Ng

While Suo's original was hardly a masterpiece, it featured a subtle performance from Koji Yakusho. Gere doesn't even compare, playing the part of a despondent lawyer with the empathy of a mannequin.

Washington Post Jen Chaney

Occasionally charming but ultimately forgettable bit of fox-trot fluff.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Even those who have never been exposed to the considerable charms of the Masayuki Suo original will likely find Peter Chelsom's all-American version of Shall We Dance? to be a dishearteningly sullen, lead-footed misstep.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Manages to transplant the action to Chicago without completely ruining it, though the emotional impact is largely deflated by the change in cultures.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

This is a "What were they thinking?"-size disaster, with the wrong actors in the wrong roles in a project that had no reason to be remade in the USA.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Now, forcibly deported to Chicago and peopled with American stars, the same story is huffed and puffed and squeezed into an entirely different cultural context. Guess what? Sayonara sushi, hello turkey.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Do yourself a favor and rent the 1996 original from Japan instead.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A remarkably ill-advised remake.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

The low point of the new Shall We Dance comes when Miss Paulina finally confesses why she's so sad.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Falls flat, with more "sound design" than delicious music, more slick film editing than graceful ballroom gliding.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

What's left is a lot of strenuous playacting when what's called for is the finesse of the Japanese original. Skip this stub-toed substitute.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 33 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

horst h. gave it a7:
Easy entertainment.great music. Afeelgood movie.

Pat C. gave it a4:
Fun to watch and has its cute moments, but lots of formula and little substance. Gere's character is shallow, and haplessly dishonest to his wife, while Lopez provokes all the emotional empathy of an android.

Jeff S. gave it a10:
Shall We Dance? Absolutely! Every role is pitch perfectly cast and directed. This is a beautiful, romantic, intellegent and sly film with an unexpectly grown-up and satisfying resolution. Stanley Tucci, Anita GIllete and the other supporting actors, as do the stars, provide heart and believability to a brilliantly spare and funny script. Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere are perfectly tuned as a married couple. Jennifer Lopez is that unattainable vision trapped in sadness; Lisa Ann Walter is that all too avialable working class girl also trapped in sadness but with street-savvy hope and Tucci, ahhhh, Tucci delivers the single most hilarious, over-the-top but believeable performance in years as straight guy who rhumbas in sequins. The fondness for this movie will grow over the decades. And Director Peter Chelsom washes it with wonderful music and stops the show, appropraitely, brilliantly in service of the story, with Mancini's "Moon River."

adam a. gave it a9:
Classic... The two leads share a different kind of chemistry that can't be seen as amazing, but is of a high standard. The movie sees jennifer lopez in a more suited role, and although she has little to say there's a sort of deep sadness in her expressions throughout most of the movie. The movie takes on a different kind of love story than those featured recently, making it unique. Aside from that, the fact that the movie is a remake detracts from its overall appeal.

Jan H. gave it a0:
I watched this on the plane to America, if there was *anything* else to do I would have done it. Nothing happens in this movie. The plot is tired and weak. There are better TV movies being made than this rubbish.

Ranga M. gave it a10:
Verv nice no words can explan that.

Captain Craig gave it a2:
When you copying a great original move how can you miss it my soooo much? No one seemed to have a clue about what they were supposed to be doing. Unbelievable Hollywood could spend that much money, a produce absolutely nothing!

Shall We Dance? Miramax Films

Shall We Dance?
Miramax Films