Shall We Dance? with Susan Sarandon, Richard Gere, and Jennifer Lopez

Drew and I search out all the dance movies we hear about. Ever
since we started ballroom dance lessons way before we got
married, it's gotten more and more fun to watch good dancing and
now and then, recognize steps that we know how to do.

Some movies are better than others -- one of our recent dvd's
from Netflix was "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" -- interesting
for the views of life in pre-revolution Cuba and some pretty
sweaty Latin dancing, but otherwise a pass.

A couple of years ago, we saw and loved the original "Shall We
Dance?" Even in Japanese with subtitles, it was a lovely
picture, full of yearning, romance, humor, and neophyte dancers.

When I heard that a remake of "Shall We Dance?" was in the works,
in English, and with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez, I thought,
"Oh God, it sounds dreadful." And I wasn't much encouraged with
the before-opening publicity that was going on this past week,
though it was fun watching Gere pull Oprah into ballroom dance
framing.

Today, though, we had a dance lesson in Jackson, and the new
"Shall We Dance?" opened in a theater close by. We went to the
first afternoon show, along with more old ladies than I would
have believed would be interested, and a few old men who could
barely walk.

Were we surprised. Totally. Even though the remake was a
faithful, almost frame-by-frame copy of the Japanese version and
we could practically recite the story and what would happen next,
still, the treatment was fresh, newly funny, poignant, romantic,
wistful. We loved it. We laughed out loud, kept saying to each
other "Hey, we know how to do that step," even clapped
spontaneously at the dancing triumphs. We probably made more
ruckus than anyone else there.

If you like dancing at all, or who have ever taken lessons, or
have thought about doing so, see this movie. If you'd like more
in your life, more happiness, more intensity, more romance, see
this movie. Just see it.