It's a startlingly truncated score, so oddly dependent on reprising the same melodies. I personally think "Are You Sure" is one of Willson's finest numbers. It also deepens Molly at a point in the show when she's been rather one note. The Grimes recording of the song is just sublime. And it has a genuinely powerful spiritual component, again, that makes Molly more compelling.
But this film settles for a lot of surface stuff that showcases a Reynolds not entirely comfortable with it. She feels so ... Burbank. Too bad.
I wonder how Shirley MacLaine would've fared. She was the studio choice.
