An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this movie but, since it had been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it was indeed nominated for 7 Academy Awards at the time (it did win 3 minor of them), it was actually a box-office flop when it was released. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I have never been huge fan of musicals and I really struggled to care about this one. I was actually surprised to discover that Gene Kelly did direct this movie since he wasn’t involved as an actor but, at least, I have to admit that it was quite a lavish production. Indeed, they worked really hard to deliver a beautiful version of New York at the turn of the century and the end-result was certainly quite convincing. I was also surprised that, even though Barbra Streisand was playing the lead, she was almost never involved in the dance scenes which were, by the way, actually pretty neat but I wouldn’t have expected less from Gene Kelly. On the other hand, even though I have like zero knowledge of her work, I have to admit that Streisand did sing very beautifully here, no doubt about it. Anyway, above all, as usual with the genre, the story was just way too fluffy for my taste. I mean, seriously, what was this whole about? Even after watching the damned thing, I’m still not really sure and, to make things worse, it lasted almost 150 mins. It was basically about some matchmaker who was using the least convincing schemes ever to get people together while trying to snitch some rich guy that she didn’t love at all. I mean, if the tone would have been darker and more sarcastic, maybe, it would have been more entertaining (I doubt it though) but the way they handled this material was just so underwhelming. There was also the bewildering fact that, at 27 years old, Barbra Streisand was obviously way too young to play this character (she eventually regretted doing this movie) but, at least, Walter Matthau was a perfect choice here. Unsurprisingly, Matthau and Streisand didn’t get along at all and their characters had eventually very little chemistry. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch, even if it was definitely not the most memorable musical I have seen. 

6/10