I suppose dancing is more or less accepted in the U.S., but I pictured my father, a straitlaced accountant who wears stuffy suits on purpose, suddenly finding himself attracted to a beautiful woman in a window, and to the act of dancing as well. Even if he got over the initial attraction to the woman, which I feel Gere's character did, and the passion for dancing remained, he'd still be in trouble.
What would happen if people found out?
My mother, a lot like the Sarandon character (minus kids at home), would think my dad is nuts and would probably only see the attraction to the woman, but not get the dancing aspect. And the woman isn't the real deal -- JLo's sort of the lure, but not the real reward.
What would he tell his colleagues? His family? He lives in the South, and men just don't do certain things there.
And once you go do _anything_ a couple times and don't tell someone, then there's that whole "why were you hiding it from me?" awkwardness, much less hours and hours of dance training. You're sort of doomed to conflict once you don't come clean a time or two.
For me, that aspect totally gelled.
I think that despite the fact that some people write this flick off as fluff, for me it outlined a pretty huge problem that some people have with being themselves, finding their true happiness, what have you.
I didn't expect to, but I loved this movie, cheesy bits and all. I even shockingly found myself liking JLo, even after hearing a friend suggest that she looked like she had a stomachache throughout the movie. I was surprised she would take a part in which she wasn't the charming center of attention (not the best explanation, but Gere is the clear star here), which pleasantly surprised me.
And I'd forgotten how wonderful Gere can be -- his character is so gentle, and you wish he'd found dance a decade prior to fill that hole in his life.
-- 555-1342. That's 5-5-5-1-3-4-2. Five-five-five-one-three-four-two. --
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rdsla
19 years ago
Hey I am glad you said that about JLo having a stomachache. Y'know, I felt the same way, even though I think she is a decent actress and good dancer, she was playing the whole role so moody and somber, that she did appear to have a stomachache! :) I think she just played it too serious.
But overall I did like the movie, even though I see the point of various people's criticisms, like the ending being a bit too sappy, the script deviating from the original Japanese movie, etc. Hey, it's a movie and yes they will Americanize it, etc. So what. It was colorful and romantic and I like Gere, Sarandon and Lopez all. And Stanley Tucci is always funny and Lisa Ann Walter is good too.
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