DVD | Shall We Dance?

I got sent the wrong DVD. What I ordered was Shadowlands, the CS Lewis biography staring Anthony Hopkins. Instead I get Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.

Well, it can’t be that bad can it?

Um, yes. Shall We Dance is basically a Richard Gere vehicle, where basically Richard Gere plays Richard Gere. I guess that’s the beauty of all his movies, if you liked him in one, you’ll like him in all the others. And then there’s J-Lo. She’s basically the same, though slightly nicer to look at (from a male perspective).

But ok, so women love Mr Gere, so this could be a good movie for chick’s right? Possibly, it does have the Gere factor, and add in some great dancing (if that’s your thing) and costumes and you have a reasonable ladies night in.

The thing I find puzzling is, if this is a chick flick, then why does Mr Gere realise he has no passion left in his life (mid life crises anyone?) and then starts to notice J-Lo sitting in a top floor window on his commute home. After a few days of looking, he impulsively hops off the train to try and meet this mystery (and a lot younger than his wife) lady. And what do you know, she teaches dance.

So Gere discovers that he has a passion for dance whilst his wife played by Susan Sarandon thinks he’s having an affair. But the PI she hires assures her it’s all ok, its just a mid life crises and he’s not up to any marital infidelity.

In the end, of course you didn’t see this coming, husband an wife re-discover their passion for each other.

But hang on, wasn’t he going after J-Lo before he knew about dancing. Wasn’t it her younger, sexier body that attracted him? C’mon, he was thinking about a different kind of dance. It’s only through J-Lo’s I-don’t-need-a-relationship-right-now attitude that nothing happened.

So my question is this: how good a chick flick is this if the lead character wants to have an affair?

May be I’m reading too much into this lighthearted romantic comedy?