> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Better plan to sit this one out for ‘Shall We Dance’
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/better-plan-to-sit-this-one-out-for-shall-we-dance/
- Published: 2004-10-15T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:18:08.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Shall we dance? Depends on whether you find appealing the prospect of two hours spent watching Richard Gere’s bored, workaholic lawyer rediscover — in true Hollywood by the numbers fashion — the joy of suburban married life through the wonders of ballroom dancing. John Clark (Gere) appears to have it all — the high-paying job, the beautiful wife (Susan Sarandon) and a house straight out of the American Dream catalog. Ahh, but something’s missing, of course, and that something turns out to be Jennifer Lopez, a spicy young thing of a Chicago dance instructor who John first spies from the window of a passing train. No, really, that’s how it happens. Next thing we know, he’s spending all his time in dance class and the wife has hired a private detective because she’s convinced he’s having an affair. After some nicely choreographed but decidedly cool twirls across the dance floor with Paulina (Lopez), John rekindles what was presumably his old exciting self, and in the process manages to warm his too-serious teacher’s chilly heart. It’s pure pablum, set to Rodgers and Hammerstein numbers. So, shall we dance? Better to sit this one out.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 15, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101504.pdf?ref=smdp.com)