Appalling movie.
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gbennett5 — 12 years ago(December 19, 2013 12:53 AM)
Sorry, but I agree with the OP - this is one messed up piece of s$%t. A
truly uninvolving, awful movie. It's problems are endless. But let's
just start with the truth: There is not one - NOT ONE - redeeming
personal quality (and being a good musician is not a personal quality) about
Jimmy. Zilch. As such, the viewer is mystified that Francine could fall
for such an a#$hole. It makes no sense. Secondly, there is NO story. At
all. It is just a collecion of overlong scenes connected together.
That somebody decided this terrible piece of pooh needed to be
lengthened (!) to 164 minutes is nothing short of absurd. The opening
scene alone is three times (at least) the length it needs to be. Same
thing with all the following scenes. Deniro and Minnelli are brilliantly
talented and they are wasted with a terrible script, and - frankly -
terrible direction. Minnelli brags in the extras interview that they
adlibbed frequently, with MS giving them a starting point and an
ending point. Boy, does it show. And not to the film's credit.
Leonard Maltin's reference books gives this disaster a star and a half,
pointing out its slight plus - Minnelli's dynamic numbers. But they
are showcased all at once after Dinero leaves Minnelli and their kid
(like a poor man's "Show Boat"), totally throwing the film's narrative
off balance. It's like one has changed the channel - from a bickering
drama to an old Hollywood musical.
A failure on virtually every level and, sadly, it is partly to blame for
destroying Minnelli's film career.
The OP is right: this IS an appalling film. -
greenbudgie — 9 years ago(April 05, 2016 01:52 AM)
I wanted to see this movie because I wanted to find out what they had made of the jazz standards included in it. I never have like bop, but that quartet scene was one of the enjoyable jazz in the movie. Very lively.
I was trying to make out who Liza Minnelli was trying to sing like. But she seemed like a demo singer even when she was on stage. Grabbing various styles from the various jazz songbirds of the 1940s. I wasn't convinced when she was doing a demo for a Peggy Lee in the studio, which I take to be still in the 1940s. Peggy never developed that really breathy style, that Liza was using in that sequence, till well into the 1950s. Peggy Lee was still experimenting with her own vocal style herself in the 1940s.