I should have guessed that this was a Rob Marshall film. First of all, the man is a sucker for musicals. Second, it so closely resembles the far superior "Chicago" in pattern and substance its almost a crime. The Only difference being that instead of focusing on 1920's women murder convicts (also an adaptation, by the way) it focuses on an Italian film producer in the 1960's who apparently needs the love and attention of not one, not two, but several women make his masterpiece.
It seems that the main character has some serious "mommy" issues, as evident in the first 20 minutes of the movie, which lends to his artistic ability, as well as his need for approval and attention from every woman he meets. Now, he IS Italian, so I should probably cut him some slack, but, his constant fantasies in song is a little off-putting to be honest. I guess I'm just a sucker for the "John Wayne" type of leading man, not a singing, dancing, dreaming-in-song protagonist. But what do I know. I'm not Italian.
Anyway, through all this philandering, merriment, and pre-production of the most important movie of his career, Guido (Daniel Day Lewis) finds himself losing his wife, coincidentally and surprisingly the most important woman in his life (who has put up with all his screwing every actress and writer, and, lets face it, everything else that comes his way wearing a skirt) which drives him to stop the production of the film altogether. He falls into a bout of self-pity, not working, and figuring out how to get his wife back.
In a nutshell, this movie is about a man's journey to success in the 1960's (ish?) Italian film industry, as well as an inner struggle to basically grow up and figure out what's really important in life. It is a depiction of a man's struggle to have what he wants and what he needs all at the same time. Without giving up the ending, he knows deep down he wants his wife, but needs to produce his film. At first I had my suspicions that it had a post-modern, "do what's good for you, no matter what the cost" theme, and in the end, I was right. I had the romantic hope that Guido would inevitably realize that his wife would prove most important in his life, but the ending leaves it up to individual interpretation, I suppose, depending on what his final decision was regarding the script at the end.
Technically, the singing, dancing, etc, was amazing. Of course I would not have expected anything else from a cast like this. I love Nicole Kidman's voice, ever since "Moulin Rouge". Penelope Cruz in my book is a glorified extra at best in most films, but I was surprised to see that she actually can sing, and of course, shake her ass like a pro. Kate Hudson is probably the best part, in that she is absolutely amazing. I never thought she could sing, or dance like she does for that matter. Fergie of course can sing and dance and blah blah blah, and to be honest her scene was reminiscent of a "black-eyed-peas" video set in a different time period, so, nothing really new or out of character for her. But my absolute favorite is Marion Cotillard as Duido Cotillard's wife. Great voice and amazing appeal. Also Daniel Day Lewis does a great job of projecting the male psyche of being perpetually, in a word, skeezy, but definitely in character. The acting was great, with amazing lyrics and vocals, but as far as the screenplay goes, not my favorite... I give it a 7 out of 10... I pegged it as a renter and I was definitely right.
\
