Shall We Dance?: Lose Yourself in Feel-Good Romantic Movie

A very happily married man.  A somewhat naive, unsuspecting wife?  A beautiful, young dancer.  Their lives become interwined through a series of fateful twists. No, not a plot out of a Danielle Steel novel but the refreshingly romantic 2004 comedy Shall We Dance?  Based on the original 1996 Japanese version of the same name, the American remake stars Richard Gere as John Clark, as an average, overworked frustrated Joe.  

As the narrator, he tells us of being an estate lawyer for 20 years, coming home to his beautiful wife played by the sensational Susan Sarandon, as a cosmetics rep.  Their life is pretty routine for year after year but as his children get older, and he gets older, he realizes something is missing.

He's not sure what it is.  As an outsider looking in, everything seems alright.  His son is in college, and his daughter is an active social butterfly, but as he blows the candles out on another birthday, he feels disconnected.  The great thing about this movie is that a lot of the feelings that John experiences, we all have experienced at one point or another.  Even when we have everything, we want more.  Since September 11th, Americans have felt the need for more of a connection with one another.

We've adopted the motto 'Work hard, play hard,' but it's not enough.  But we accept it.  We accept working longing hours.
We accept two-hour car commutes just so we can make a little bit more money.  Just so we can have that luxury suburban house or that chic, hip urban brownstone.  John Clark is no acception.  He rides the train from the suburbs of Chicago to work in the downtown area.