Short conclusion: I thought it was enjoyable (for the most part) but I wouldn't buy it. (Of course, after deciding that, I had to check to make sure I hadn't already bought it in a Black Friday binge, and I hadn't. I might have bought it using my past standards but now I am trying to downsize to just the movies I want to keep.) The strengths were the joy of dance, the dancing itself and some of the acting; the major weakness was the construction and credibility of the story itself. On a 10 scale, I would give this a 6.5.
The basic plot: A lawyer named John Clark (Richard Gere) finds himself unfulfilled and wanting more out of life (I can relate to that in some ways). He seems to be in a rut - the same thing at the firm day after day, a family life that is stable but seems like they are lacking connection, etc. While on the train, John sees a ballroom dance studio where Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) looks longingly out the window. Seeing his feelings mirrored in hers, he decides on a whim to go to the studio. He starts ballroom dancing, keeping it a secret from his wife (Susan Sarandon) and family, even going so far as to compete in ballroom dancing without telling his family. Of course, his wife thinks he's having an affair and hires a private detective. The end of the movie deals with the consequences of keeping the secret and then wraps the whole thing up in a neat little bow. (The movie is almost 8 years old, I'm not really that concerned about spoilers in the plot summary.)
What worked: It's fun watching people dance. It's why I love shows like SYTYCD and Dancing with the Stars. Richard Gere did a great job portraying someone who didn't really have any dance experience, learned some moves, caught the dancing bug, and truly found happiness through dance. His character is truly the star of the show and he did a fantastic job making John seem so charming when he was dancing. The 3 guys learning to dance together and the friendships that developed out of the dancing school were also good. I also liked seeing Chicago.
What didn't work: The story! First, I couldn't understand why John just didn't tell his wife he was dancing. At some point he said he was ashamed of where he was going and why, but I just couldn't understand that. If you love something so much, wouldn't you want to share that with your spouse? Why would dancing be such a terrible thing to confess? Second, how could the late nights and absences from home life get so far that he could be competing in a ballroom dance competition without the topic ever coming up at home? Why doesn't his wife ever ask him where he is night after night when he doesn't come home when he should? Even the private detective asked her if she had just asked him about it. Shouldn't they know where their spouse is? When she knows that he's dancing, why doesn't she confront him and ask him why he hasn't said anything? Was the lack of communication an issue in their marriage? It seemed like it because of this but it also just seemed like an artificial construct to add conflict to the movie. The fact that she wasn't privy to the dancing part of his life set up the major conflict and the ending, and without that conflict there isn't much tension to the story. I did like that the connection between John and Paulina wasn't a romantic one and that they didn't come up with some extramarital affair just for conflict, but the story and the reasons they did come up with were hard for me to believe.
I draw a distinction when I watch movies between the structure and the performance. This was really important in the last few Harry Potter movies where I thought they were wonderfully acted but I had such issues with the story. Here, I thought the acting was good and the performance was really enjoyable. My issues mostly stem from the story, which just wouldn't resonate with me. I can't imagine such a lack of communication and involvement in each other's lives.
I look forward to someday watching the original Japanese version. I wonder how it compares to this version.
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