Shall We Dance? Synopsis: A romantic comedy where a bored, overworked Estate Lawyer, upon first sight of a beautiful instructor, signs up for ballroom dancing lessons.
John is an estate lawyer who has a good job, a lovely home, and a devoted wife. Despite all of this, he feels stuck in a rut. On the train home from work one evening, he catches a glimpse of a woman looking out the window from a dance studio. This intrigues John, and he impulsively decides to sign up for dance lessons. There, he meets the woman in the window, Paulina, as well as a small handful of other wannabe dancers. John finds he’s pretty good at ballroom dancing but keeps it a secret from his wife Beverly, who begins to suspect he’s having an affair.
Shall We Dance was initially marketed as a romantic comedy, which is why I added it to my watchlist! However, I’m not sure calling it a pure romantic comedy can be accurate. While Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) and John have a connection, it’s not romantic.
John’s desire to break free of his routine outweighs any attraction he may have to the dance instructor. Paulina’s one true love is dance, and she doesn’t get involved with her students, which is good, seeing as how John is married. Susan Sarandon plays Beverly, John’s wife. There’s nothing wrong with her. In fact, she’s a very supportive wife.
Once she discovers John is secretly taking dance lessons, she desperately wants to be a part of it – maybe not to dance, but you can tell she wants to be included- yet John goes out of his way to keep her in the dark. Why? Who knows. Maybe he’s embarrassed. Maybe he’s attracted to Paulina. Maybe he wants to keep something for himself.
While learning to dance, John surrounds himself with new people, including Chic (Bobby Cannavale), who signed up for dance lessons to impress women, Vern (Omar Miller), who wants to surprise his fiance at their wedding; and Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter), a spirited regular at Miss Mitzi’s. John also discovers that a colleague of his, Link (Stanley Tucci, who makes every film 10x better), loves ballroom dance, though he hides behind a terrible wig and fake teeth to try to appear younger. Everyone has their own way of bringing John out of his shell, and his scenes with his new friends are far more interesting than those alone with Paulina.
Jennifer Lopez is a fantastic dancer, but I felt she was miscast in the role of Paulina. It could just be that she was so crushed and mopey through most of it, like someone had killed her cat, or she had experienced some tragic loss… but no, she simply lost a dance competition, which somehow derailed her entire life. It was a bit overdramatic for my taste.
As a whole, Shall We Dance? was an entertaining watch. Again, I don’t know that I can define this as a romantic comedy—it’s very mild on the romance, and the comedy comes and goes. But still, I enjoyed the dancing quite a bit, especially Stanley Tucci’s passion for it.
Watched: 06/02/2023
Notable Song: The Book of Love by Peter Gabriel
