In the summer of 1997, Miramax opened a sugarcoated Japanese film that predictably became an art house favorite with its easy-to-swallow presentation and almost irresistible charm.
Seven years later, Miramax presents a sugarcoated American remake with all the same charms, but also the same flaws. The much bigger problem, however, comes in the cultural translation.
In Shall We Dance, Richard Gere takes over the role originally played by Koji Yakusho—a bored businessman stuck in a rut. While riding the train home from work, John Clark passes a dance studio. One day, he spies a lovely girl (Jennifer Lopez) with a faraway look leaning in the window. He gets off the train and spontaneously signs up for eight weeks of ballroom dancing lessons.
In the Japanese version, the businessman keeps his dancing a secret because of societal taboos: It's viewed as an erotic act and therefore "dirty." John keeps his dancing a secret because—get this—he's embarrassed to want more out of life. Anyway, that's the line screenwriter Audrey Wells (Under the Tuscan Sun) came up with. It's futile and frustrating.
Meanwhile, John's wife (Susan Sarandon) frets and hires a detective (Richard Jenkins), who at least provides some comic relief with his bits of physical business and relationship with a classics-quoting sidekick (Nick Cannon).
The dance studio comes packed with easily-typed characters: the fat kid, the closeted gay, the loudmouth dame, etc. Wells and director Peter Chelsom try to add depth by giving each of them a secret and then "unexpectedly" revealing it.
The stars carry the film off nicely, from Sarandon's confused housewife to Lopez's brooding, beautiful dancer, and especially Stanley Tucci as a sequin-loving straight man. Gere has the same kind of weighty sadness as Yakusho, and he fits the part like a glove.
But Chelsom, who has the dishonor of having helmed Town and Country, one of the biggest financial flops in Hollywood history—lets the film fatally slide in its final half-hour by pouring on the melodramatic steam just as the shaky plot threads come to a head.
The original film at least made you want to take dancing lessons. This remake has you wanting to head for the exits.