Shall We Dance
Miramax Films | Release Date: October 15, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
14
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
A warm-hearted and understated entertainment that's blissfully free of the heavy-handed crudity and other elements that have ravaged 21st-century Hollywood comedy. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Gere is a pleasure, smiling and spinning and high-fiving his two classmates -- played by Bobby Cannavale and Omar Miller -- and the movie is happy and extremely likable. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Conventional as it may be, Shall We Dance? offers genuine delights. The fact that Paulina is uninterested in romance with John comes as sort of a relief, freeing the story to be about something other than the inexorable collision of their genitals. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
It's an intelligent, funny, mature comedy that wears its heart on its sleeve and makes you care about the inner lives of ridiculously privileged human beings. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The new film compensates with Gere's wry performance as a man who lacks for nothing material but hungers for something spiritual. Even better is Stanley Tucci's delirious turn as Gere's balding, button-down colleague. Read full review
75
PremierePeter Debruge
This is Gere’s movie, and Sarandon and Lopez graciously let him dance away with it. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
As glossy and overproduced as the thing is, it's a GOOD Big Stupid American movie. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A sleek Hollywood crowd-pleaser, more movie than art film, but its makers have wisely stuck not only to the spirit but often even to the letter of the original. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
When it works, Shall We Dance? has a way of sweeping you off your feet. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
I walked out of the original Shall We Dance? with a silly grin on my face. I left this one shaking my head, wondering where it had all gone wrong. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
The movie tries hard to duplicate the original's mood and story, but, like Gere or Lopez, is too much of a visual knockout to rope us in. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Goes too far in its slapstick efforts to please mainstream audiences, but there's no denying the genuine appeal of -- and I can't believe I'm actually writing this -- Richard Gere and ballroom dancing. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
Only Lopez, the film's ostensible star, seems to be struggling; she's a lovely dancer, but the only reason Lopez's expressionless performance isn't this sweet picture's downfall is that the script makes so few demands on her. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An unabashedly old-fashioned entertainment loaded with traditional dancing and music. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
An old- fashioned feel-good fantasy that piles on the euphoria. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Considering the talent on both sides of the camera and a story that worked beautifully the first time around, Shall We Dance? should have been a lot better than OK. Read full review
50
SalonCharles Taylor
The movie feels choppy and rhythmless. And he's (Chelsom) rather hopeless at dance sequences. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The movie never gives its heart freely and honestly to the satiny whirl of post-"Chicago" showbiz spectacle it so clearly wants to be. Read full review
50
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Runs out of breath and collapses into a heap of feel-good endings that turn a soaring feeling into a sinking one. But by then, the audience that adores it will forgive it its sins. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Shall We Dance?, which roams all over the emotional map without landing anywhere, is an unwieldy mess that gives every impression of having been made under a mandate to fill the Miramax crowd-pleaser slot. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The warm performances give the film momentum, but writer Audrey Wells and director Peter Chelsom (who chops dance sequences clumsily) often stumble. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Manages to transplant the action to Chicago without completely ruining it, though the emotional impact is largely deflated by the change in cultures. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Even those who have never been exposed to the considerable charms of the Masayuki Suo original will likely find Peter Chelsom's all-American version of Shall We Dance? to be a dishearteningly sullen, lead-footed misstep. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Chelsom has transformed a low-key charmer into an overblown shtick-com whose idea of restraint only extends to forgoing wacky sound effects, a laugh track, and amplified rim-shots every time a character delivers a wisecrack. Read full review
40
Village VoiceDavid Ng
While Suo's original was hardly a masterpiece, it featured a subtle performance from Koji Yakusho. Gere doesn't even compare, playing the part of a despondent lawyer with the empathy of a mannequin. Read full review
40
Washington PostJen Chaney
Occasionally charming but ultimately forgettable bit of fox-trot fluff. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Do yourself a favor and rent the 1996 original from Japan instead. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
This is a "What were they thinking?"-size disaster, with the wrong actors in the wrong roles in a project that had no reason to be remade in the USA. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Now, forcibly deported to Chicago and peopled with American stars, the same story is huffed and puffed and squeezed into an entirely different cultural context. Guess what? Sayonara sushi, hello turkey. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A remarkably ill-advised remake.
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
The low point of the new Shall We Dance comes when Miss Paulina finally confesses why she's so sad. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Falls flat, with more "sound design" than delicious music, more slick film editing than graceful ballroom gliding. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
What's left is a lot of strenuous playacting when what's called for is the finesse of the Japanese original. Skip this stub-toed substitute. Read full review
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