Shall We See Shall We Dance? Yes, Indeed!

I work in a mall that is in walking distance to a dollar theater. I have often taken advantage of this fact when going to the mall with my family or friends, capping off a shopping trip with a movie. But it also came in handy the other day when I closed up my store on New Year’s Day with an hour or so to go before I could get a ride home. I just headed over to the theater and bought a ticket to whatever happened to be playing closest to my time of arrival. The movie, as it turned out, was Shall We Dance, which my parents had just seen two days before. They had liked it, so I had no qualms about going in. And though my friend at work urged me to opt for Shaun of the Dead - which didn’t start for another half an hour - I think I slept easier with this zombie-free romance bouncing around in my head.

The film stars Richard Gere, who already proved his worthiness as a soft-shoe in Chicago, as estate lawyer John Clark, a man vaguely dissatisfied with his life without quite understanding why. Each night during his ride home on the train he passes by a dance studio and sees a beautiful but forlorn-looking woman (Jennifer Lopez) through the window. Intrigued, he decides one day to stop and investigate, taking the first step in an experience that will change his life.

Upon his arrival, he learns that he will not be spending much time with Paulina, the woman he saw from the window, during the ballroom dancing lessons she signs him up for. Instead, he will be under the tutelage of Miss Mitzi (Anita Gillette), a mildly frazzled older woman with years of experience. His fellow pupils are Chic (Bobby Cannavale), a man whose grace on the dance floor is matched by his apparent homophobia, and Vern (Omar Benson Miller), a big teddy bear of a guy who hopes to impress his girlfriend with his newfound skill (and the pounds he will lose because of it). Thrown into the mix is Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter), an abrasive wannabe diva who spends the bulk of her time at the studio practicing for a tournament she can’t enter without a dancing partner, and Link Peterson (Stanley Tucci), John’s eccentric coworker who secretly does Latin dancing by night.

While the bulk of the movie follows John’s growing love affair with the art of ballroom dancing, the subplot focuses on his wife Beverly’s (Susan Sarandon) concerns that he is engaging in an affair of a different kind. His long absences and secretive behavior, not to mention the unfortunate experience of a coworker, lead her to hire an investigator, uber-casual Devine (Richard Jenkins), to scope out the situation. With the help of his quote-spewing assistant Scottie (Nick Cannon), he uncovers the not-so-adulterous nature of her husband’s activities. But is the marital rift that has already developed reparable?

Shall We Dance is a simple love story that comes to a somewhat unexpected climax. While this movie was advertised as a Gere / Lopez collaboration, her part in the film is smaller than anticipated. In fact, Sarandon’s role is just as important. But Lopez brings suitable depth to a character who obviously has darkness in her past that she hasn’t been able to evict. While Gere is the film’s focal point, and we are treated to several shining examples of his character’s newly acquired skill, it is the supporting cast who make the film so much fun. Tucci brings delightful zaniness to Link, also letting the audience in on the pain the derision of his coworkers causes him. Jenkins makes his detective crusty but lovable, and Cannavale introduces a comical imbalance between Chic’s machismo and obvious delight in gliding across the dance floor. My favorite character, though, is easily Miller’s gentle Vern, which was reminiscent of Forest Whitaker’s turn as Nate in Phenomenon. Though he may not ever be Fred Estaire, Vern has a heart to match his girth; he’s easily the most huggable fellow in the film.

Shall We Dance was never on my must-see list, but I’m glad circumstances conspired for me to watch it. It’s a sweet film that will leave you smiling.

Lots of Razzle Dazzle, But Not Much Else

Two years ago I watched as Chicago took home half a dozen Oscars and wondered whether I would feel bitter about them when I finally got around to seeing the movie. I like musicals, so I wanted to withhold judgment, but when I did get around to watching it I was gravely disappointed. I watched in the company of a roomful of people who loved the film, so I kept my criticisms to myself until I got in the car upon our departure. As it turned out, the members of my immediate family shared my lack of enthusiasm. Maybe we’re just too old-fashioned.

First off, Chicago takes place in probably my least favorite decade of the 20th Century: the 1920s. Anything I see depicting that era seems awash in a haze of cigarette smoke and cynicism. I hated the supposed Great American Novel The Great Gatsby and Chicago didn’t redeem the 1920s for me. I found the dingy nightclub scenes bursting with slinky costumes more depressing than those in the jailhouse.

Don’t get me wrong. This is visually a very impressive film. I happen to dislike all the locales pictured, but I’ll still concede that it looks good. The costumes are flashy, the fantasy sequences are imaginative and the choreography is astounding. I wanted to like this movie, not least because a good friend of mine told me I had to see it. So I gave it a fair shot, but there’s just very little in the film that appeals to me.

I generally find Renee Zellweger irritating, and never more so in this movie, where she plays aspiring star Roxie Hart. When she discovers that the man with whom she is having an affair doesn’t intend to get her into show biz like he promised, she is so enraged that she kills him. Her steady husband Amos (John C. Reilly) rushes to her defense, claiming guilt for himself, until he discovers the affair and has a slight change of heart. I found Amos the only likable character in the whole shebang, and even that isn’t a very strong draw. We feel sorry for him, especially in the song Mr. Cellophane, but in the end he’s bland and not very memorable.

The guy who gets all the attention is Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), the slick lawyer who takes on Roxie’s case and tries to sweet-talk the public into sympathizing with her. This job is made more difficult by the fact that she possesses very limited reserves of tact and restraint, amusingly illustrated in We Both Reached for the Gun. Also making her life harder is Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the slinky star-turned-murderess she once idolized. Now she stands as her rival to the public’s affections, and Velma’s been around the block a few times and knows how to play the game.

While I can’t find anything remotely likable about either of these leading ladies, Matron “Mama” Morton (Queen Latifah) does hold a certain appeal for me. She is also too cold and conniving for my taste, but she puts forth the appearance, at least, of being warm and motherly at times. There are moments when I think she really does care about the women under her watch, and her African-flavored introductory number is enjoyable enough. She’s my favorite of the gals, but given the company that’s not saying too much.

The whole idea of switching constantly between real life and some dream sequence in the minds of the characters didn’t work for me. I guess I like my musicals more straightforward than that. I have no trouble accepting people bursting forth into song. I do, however, tend to find self-referential theater less than satisfying. It’s a conceit that won many viewers of the movie over, but I’m afraid it turned me off. Add to that the dearth of sympathetic characters, songs that failed to stay with me and an overriding sense of cynicism and what I was left with was a masterfully executed movie that I didn’t get anything out of. It echoed the reaction I had when I saw my alma mater’s production of On Your Toes: Gee, the cast, crew and orchestra are doing a brilliant job, but this is the most pointless play I’ve ever seen. Obviously a lot of moviegoers disagreed with me, so I won’t tell you not to bother with it. But if you’re looking for a good musical, there are a couple dozen others I’d point you to first.