Ill-conceived American remake, under British director Peter Chelsom, of the 1996 Japanese film (not the 1937 Astaire-Rogers film), the original of which was a success as much artistically as commercially. The social stigma, for starters, which we learned was attached to ballroom dancing in the regimented Land of the Rising Sun, hardly obtains in the do-your-own-thing Land of the Free. And Richard Gere, from the outset, is too glamorous, too confident, too cool for the lead role of the closet twinkle-toes, and is not a good enough actor to pretend otherwise. And Jennifer Lopez, no matter how withdrawn from the world her character is supposed to be, or how subordinate her role, cannot help but act as though she's the center of the universe. (The dark costuming, the dim lighting, the discreet framing, however, de-emphasize the famous derrière -- the center of the universe is not just that! -- and it falls to a different, fuller-figured gal to protest, if only as a diversion, "Stop lookin' at my ass.") The muddy photography, to seal the doom, casts a pall over what is -- or was -- an overt fairy tale. With Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Lisa Ann Walter. (2004) — Duncan Shepherd
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