Shall We Dance (2004)

A romantic comedy where a bored, overworked Estate Lawyer, upon first sight of a beautiful instructor, signs up for ballroom dancing lessons.

Director:

Peter Chelsom

Writers:

Masayuki Suo, Audrey Wells (screenplay)

Stars:

Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Gere	...	John Clark
Jennifer Lopez	...	Paulina
Susan Sarandon	...	Beverly Clark
Lisa Ann Walter	...	Bobbie
Stanley Tucci	...	Link
Anita Gillette	...	Miss Mitzi
Bobby Cannavale	...	Chic
Omar Benson Miller	...	Vern (as Omar Miller)
Tamara Hope	...	Jenna Clark
Stark Sands	...	Evan Clark
Richard Jenkins	...	Devine
Nick Cannon	...	Scott
Sarah Lafleur	...	Carolyn
Onalee Ames	...	Diane
Diana Salvatore	...	Tina

Storyline

John Clark is a middle aged Chicago estate lawyer. He loves his family, which includes his wife Beverly, but their combined busy schedules and getting caught in a rut after two decades of marriage has left him feeling unfulfilled. While taking the el train home every night, he notices the same young, beautiful contemplative woman staring out of one of the windows of Miss Mitzi's Dance Studio, which specializes in ballroom. He is intrigued enough with her beauty and sadness to go in one evening on his way home. He learns that she is Paulina, one of the instructors and a former world class ballroom dancer. Because of her, he signs up for beginner group dance lessons, regardless of them being taught by Miss Mitzi herself, and not Paulina. As time progresses, John gets caught up in the lives of those at Miss Mitzi's: his two fellow classmates - overweight Vern who wants to learn to dance for his upcoming wedding, and Chic, who wants to impress the ladies - and two of the studio's ...

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Plot Keywords:

female butt jiggle | dance instructor | 2000s | dance class | middle aged couple | 

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Taglines:

Step out of the ordinary

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and brief language

Did You Know?

Trivia

About $4,000 worth of jewelry worn by Susan Sarandon during the filming of the movie was stolen and recovered at murder scene in Winnipeg on 4 July 2003. According to news sources, the jewelry was stolen from a vehicle on the movie set and found in a downtown hotel room. The murder was written about in the book "Trophy Kill - The Shall We Dance Murder " by true-crime author "Dan Zupandsky" who interacted with the suspect and in turn became a key role in the investigation. The victim's name was Robin Greene.

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Goofs

A major plot point is John's realization during the dance competition that his wife and daughter are in the audience, meaning they have discovered his secret. However, the idea that Bobbie would hear someone in the crowd yelling "Go, Dad!" over the music and would assume it was John's daughter is preposterous. Even more preposterous is the suggestion that a couple in a dance competition would break their concentration to have such a frivolous conversation.

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Quotes

Paulina: You... are the frame.
John Clark: I'm the frame.
Paulina: She is the picture...
John Clark: She is the picture...
Paulina: ...in your frame. - Everything that you do is to show her off.
Bobbie: You got that?.
John Clark: I didn't hear that.

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Connections

Referenced in Dancing with the Stars: Round 3 (2007)

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Soundtracks

Happy Feet
(1930)
Music by Milton Ager
Lyrics by Jack Yellen
Produced and Arranged by John Altman

User Reviews

Shall We Dance? Of Course !

What a match-up of performers! Richard Gere with Susan Sarandon - very strange initially, but very successful. While we typically identify Mr. Gere with younger, more stereotypically "beautiful" actors, his pairing with Ms. Sarandon was most fitting with his role in this film.

As he attempted to connect with himself, the natural entry of Jennifer Lopez into his life was perfect. It was great to see the two characters go from one end of the spectrum to another - hoping to see it go all the way. While initially disappointing (really wanted to see them together), it was a very do-able end result.

Of course, the dancing and music were a great focal point to the story -I loved seeing Mr. Gere and Ms. Lopez doing their "thing." The statistics of the voting on this site for this film were most puzzling. One can only surmise that there were a great many voters who lack a great deal of romance in their souls. Further, as many voters must have lacked an appreciation of great music and dancing.

Clearly, one of the most enjoyable films of 2004.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Shall We Dance?

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,600,000, 17 October 2004

Gross USA:

$57,890,460

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$170,128,460

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1