As Good As It Gets

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Everything about this film sucks. The plot is weak, acting terrible and there are no twists or surprises. My wife watches loads of romcoms that I also consequently see but this makes me despair. Without giving away the plot, it's predictable and just best avoided. Such a shame given the big name cast.

I know this film is from 2004, but it just happens that I have just seen it on TV. And it really made an impact on me, because first I thought it was extremely boring and I changed the channel several times, but there was nothing else worth seeing, I mean the alternative would've been the news! God help me, not on this time! So I had to continue watching the film and suddenly I thought it was very funny even though the film is not supposed to be funny, more like a light comedy. Some scenes were so ridiculous that I saw myself laughing both of the scene and the characters and the story. It's; you know like the middle aged professional lawyer that has an extremely boring family and job, he doesn't care for his wife but suddenly he sees a beautiful dance instructor through the train window which motivates him to change all his way of life. He just didn't know that he was a dancing talent like Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly! And this fabulous woman makes him see it just by swinging a little in the floor, and pang! he can dance Argentinian tango, American fox trot, waltz from Vienna, you name it; it was a miracle I was astonished. But I must admit it was a little frustrating that there is no real conclusion, I mean, like, there was this dancing contest that everybody was so interested in….. and we never see the ending of it so we will never know who won the contest! Oh; I know, they are surely filming a "Shall We Dance II" where we will know who won! So if you are bored go and look at it. Its surely worth the trouble to have your eyes open.

This version of "Shall We Dance?" is a cheap American ripoff of a vastly better Japanese movie with the same title. The whole premise of the movie makes no sense when placed in America, since we don't have the same cultural norms. The Japanese version is one of my favorite films. It has far more heart and much better character development than the American version. It's also much funnier. Do yourself a HUGE favor and watch the Japanese version instead!

The tight ensemble cast works well together including alphabetically such familiar movie names as Bobby Canivale, Anita Gilette, Richard Gere, Richard Jenkins, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci and Lisa Ann Walter. Its nostalgic portrayal of a Chicago I remember includes an elevated CTA train and station, the Loop, the Chicago River along Wacker Drive and a pricey visually tony section due west in the city whose residents lack the social graces expected of other tonier city neighborhoods. Its characters have the plain spoken no putting on sophisticated airs characteristic of its region of the midwest. Their day to day problems are real as are their attempts to over come the seeming mundaneness of their life in which physical comforts seem easier to grasp than sophisticated city life pleasures. This aspect lends a depth and trueness to this glorious remake other might see as a letdown from the Japanese original films in a big city culture in which plain folks see things differently.