John Clark (Richard Gere) is a successful Chicago attorney. To the outside world he has it all; a well paying job, a family and lovely wife, Beverly (Susan Sarandon), a fancy sedan and SUV parked in front of a large house in the north shore suburbs. In general, everything’s going his way. However, he’s conflicted by the fact that his life has no personal energy and there is no one or nothing to blame. His wife is a successful person in both her personal and professional life as well, and he has no quarrel with that. Their teenage daughter is very astute and keeps both parents on their toes. John knows he’s unhappy but has no idea what to do about it.

Each day as John takes the elevated train on his way home, he passes a dance studio and observes Paulina (Jennifer Lopez) looking out of the window. Clearly she also is missing something in her life. Not sure if he is drawn to the studio so he can have an affair, John signs up for beginning ballroom dance lessons. As his interest in dance increases, he stays out late on a regular basis and Beverly soon suspects that he is having an affair. John starts to understand passion as never before when a dance instructor observes that the attitude one must have when doing the rumba is that you must hold your partner while thinking that what you do on the dance floor is a vertical expression of a horizontal wish.

After hiring a private detective (Richard Jenkins of HBOs "Six Feet Under"), Beverly is disappointed to learn that John seems to need something quite fundamental that she can’t give him. Helping John to understand the control he has to find happiness within his family is co-worker Link (Stanley Tucci) and the people he meets at the dance studio. Link wears a psychological mask at work, pretending to care about sports as he constantly spouts facts of interest to others. He wears another, more distinguishing guise as he uses dance to let it all hang out, and only because of a dance competition does Link find out who he really is. Lisa Ann Walter ("Bruce Almighty") and Omar Benson Miller ("8 Mile") are dance students with their own hidden agendas for coming to the dance studio. And let’s not forget Jennifer Lopez, an expert dance instructor and former competitor looking for a spark in her life to once again dance competitively.

There are no bad people in "Shall We Dance. It’s a likeable movie in every aspect. You care about the people because you can relate to them. It can help one realize the aliveness of their dreams.

George’s Take: Since the 1996 Japanese film, upon which this movie was based, is my all time # 1 film, I was expecting to hate this picture because it would lose much of what I loved in the first one due to two things: 1) Hollywood’s tendency to butcher the remake of outstanding foreign films and 2) the ‘Bennifer’ factor. I was hooked when the supporting cast came through, especially the unknowns such as Lisa Ann Walter and Omar Benson Miller. Stanley Tucci was surprisingly funny and Susan Sarandon displayed a sexiness that all women over 40 will be proud of. The movie is not just about Gere and Lopez, but all of us.

Pam’s Take: I enjoy films that address the values of accountability and self-renewal. Screenwriter Audrey Wells ("Under the Tuscan Sun") captures the "bluesy" feeling we can sometimes experience, even though we can seem to have it all (spouse, children, big house, plenty of money in the bank, health, etc.) but still be emotionally unfulfilled for reasons we don’t understand.

We agree that "Shall We Dance" is brilliant in how it steps into the shoes of people from various walks of life, with a broad range of viewpoints, and engagingly presents how dance (it could be bird watching, bowling, going to the theater or practically anything) can become a focal point to make sense of your life. The best moments in your life may be in the future or perhaps were in the past, but chances are it’s right now because of what you are learning today. Only you can see this reality. Because time is the one thing you can never get back, make the most of it, it’s one of the most important things you can do. Arthur Murray (whose legendary dance studios are sponsoring a contest to win dance lessons in conjunction with the film) used to end his television program, which featured ballroom dancing, with the inspiring words, "Put a little joy in your life. Try dancing."