Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A bored estate lawyer spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.
This 2004 American remake of the beloved 1996 Japanese film is a competent but largely formulaic Hollywood retread. Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez are watchable but the chemistry feels manufactured, while Susan Sarandon brings quiet dignity to the underwritten wife role. The cinematography is functional but unremarkable — standard studio lighting with little visual imagination. The plot closely follows the original with few meaningful departures, and the remake label limits its novelty score significantly; it recycles rather than reimagines. The ending delivers the expected emotional resolution without much surprise. An enjoyable but middling crowd-pleaser that pales beside its source material.