| Bah, humbug! 'The Greatest Showman' deserves a (Tom) Thumb's-down (includes spoilers) | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 02:23 am EST 12/27/17 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 02:10 am EST 12/27/17 | |
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| No one goes to a Hollywood musical biopic expecting a hard-hitting documentary, but "The Greatest Showman" really believes "There's a sucker born every minute,'' especially among moviegoers. As a holiday package of hokum, it takes the tale of a 19th-century huckster who exploited ''human oddities,'' and tries to re-gift him as a precursor to 21st-century champions of individuality and diversity. Directed by Michael Gracey, it's a hyperkinetic collection of music videos, set to jejune and generic songs by Tony and Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum, and this Tony-winning star is surely one of Broadway's "Greatest" showmen. He's been celebrated for playing larger-than-life figures, like Wolverine (or Peter Allen), but here he's reduced to a genial, good-hearted family man. Where's the bold and bombastic impresario who exhibited human curiosities, like giants, dwarves and Siamese twins, and enjoyed hoodwinking audiences with hoaxes, like the ''Feejee Mermaid''? Too bad Jackman didn't make a movie of Broadway's 1980 ''Barnum,'' which won Jim Dale a Tony; it would've been a better showcase. In ''The Greatest Showman,'' Barnum doesn't even get to sing the best solo: "This Is Me,'' its official Best Song entry for the Oscars. It's sung by Keala Settle, as Lettie Lutz, a bearded lady, and she steals the movie. To set the scene: Barnum is hobnobbing with high-society types after introducing Jenny Lind to America. (FYI: Rebecca Ferguson plays the ''Swedish Nightingale'' with a British accent, and sings not opera, but a repetitious Celine Dion-like anthem: ''These hands could hold the world, but it'll never be enough. Never enough. For me, never, never, never, never, never, for me, for me,'' etc..) When Lettie and her fellow ''freaks'' try to join the party, an embarrassed Barnum slams the door in their faces. Feeling rejected and betrayed, Lettie belts ''This Is Me,'' a soaring (and equally anachronistic) power ballad about self-empowerment. (Surprisingly, Barnum never apologizes, seeks forgiveness or tries to explain his actions, and the moment is never brought up later.) Even though the lyrics of ''This Is Me'' proclaims Lettie & Co. are ''bursting through the barricades'' and ''not afraid to be seen,'' the movie keeps them in the background, largely as glorified extras. That's kinda ironic since one of the film's co-screenwriters is Bill Condon. (The other writer is Jenny Bicks.) He directed and co-authored a new book for the 2014 Broadway revival of ''Side Show,'' about the Hilton Sisters. In ''The Greatest Showman,'' you see the original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, in the crowd, but they are never given a single line of dialogue. ''The Greatest Showman'' is full of bad history and notable omissions, like Joice Heth, Barnum's first big attraction. He advertised this blind, black slave as George Washington's 161-year-old, childhood nurse, and after she died, he sold tickets to her autopsy. Instead, the film focuses on fake folks (like Zac Efron's Phillip, a business partner who has a romance with the equally fictitious Anne, a black trapeze artist played by Zendaya). Phillip and Anne have an aerial duet called ''Rewrite the Stars'' (''Say you were meant to be mine ... You'll be the one I was meant to find''). These synthetic sentiments match this movie musical's phony-looking CGI and body doubles. It didn't have to be like this. Why rewrite the story of this one-of-a-kind, American legend when, as the New Yorker's Richard Brody notes, Barnum's real life was so much more fascinating? He also was a publisher, politician, philanthropist, producer of minstrel shows and promoter of live theater. Now that's a bio that beats any filmic flim-flam. |
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| Link | The New Yorker: 'The Greatest Showman' and the far more fascinating real life of P.T. Barnum (by Richard Brody) |
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