| Barnum movie musical isn't getting the 'Greatest' reviews | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 11:20 am EST 12/20/17 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 11:11 am EST 12/20/17 | |
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| David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter: ''This ersatz portrait of big-top tent impresario P.T. Barnum [in 'The Greatest Showman'] is all smoke and mirrors, no substance. It hammers pedestrian themes of family, friendship and inclusivity while neglecting the fundaments of character and story. ... Despite a cast of proven vocalists led with his customary gusto by Hugh Jackman, the interchangeably generic pop songs are so numbingly overproduced they all sound like they're being performed off-camera. ... This is territory that co-writer [Bill] Condon explored more satisfyingly in his unjustly short-lived 2014 reworking of 'Side Show.' But the warmth and unity of that community of carnival outsiders are missing here.'' Justin Chang in the L.A. Times: ''Directed with bland competence by Michael Gracey, "The Greatest Showman" is both a fitful hoot and a remarkably upbeat con job, one that seizes upon Barnum's talent for hoodwinking his customers and tries to foist it in turn upon the audience. There's pleasure to be had in a good hustle, and from time to time Gracey's movie offers a reasonable facsimile. It has bright colors and high spirits, and it's held together by a song score (from the Oscar-winning "La La Land" duo of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) whose creamy-vanilla smoothness is as insipid as it is hard to resist. You don't believe what the filmmakers are selling for an instant, but at times you can almost believe they believe it themselves.'' Brian Truitt in USA Today: ''The soundtrack for the P.T Barnum biopic musical The Greatest Showman is chock full of amazing and catchy tunes you’ll be humming after the credits roll. The actual movie? Send in the clowns. Michael Gracey’s directorial debut (*½ out of four; rated PG; in theaters Wednesday) is a disappointing circus of thinly developed characters, overly earnest melodrama and song-and-dance sequences that are more like unrelated music videos sewn together for a threadbare narrative. Hugh Jackman’s the ringmaster of this disjointed affair, though it’s not entirely his fault Barnum’s the least interesting part of his own movie. ... Dazzling show tunes like these deserve better than a failed 'Showman.' '' More than a few reviewers compared ''The Greatest Showman'' to ''Side Show.'' So far, the majority of reviews look negative, but here's a rave: Owen Gleiberman in Variety: ''“The Greatest Showman” is a good, old-fashioned, wholesome PG musical that is also a scintillatingly flashy — and woke! — immersion in up-to-the-minute razzmatazz. It takes the life of P.T. Barnum, who is played with irresistible effervescence by Hugh Jackman, and turns him into a saintly huckster-maestro who invented the spirit of modern showbiz. ... How piously anachronistic is that? Very. Yet “The Greatest Showman” wants to give you a splashy good time, and does, and it’s got a genuine romantic spirit. The numbers are shot like electro-magnetic dance-pop music videos. ... You know you're watching conventional chorus-line-with-a-beat flimflam. ... [Barnum] would have approved.'' |
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| Link | Official trailer: ''The Greatest Showman'' |
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