Grimossfer
Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Billie Morin
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
gas31
This movie is very reminiscent of American sit-coms such as Friends, with only minimal character development and some halfway decent comedy, but then someone decided it would be a good idea to make it into a musical.Why, oh why?! Quite apart from the badly-choreographed, fetishised female dancing sequences, the actors can't sing! The songs seem to encroach on the plot rather than aid it, and the fact that the songs are often shot in a different location (with completely different lighting, mise-en-scene etc) from the preceding and following scenes makes the film as a whole seem disjointed.The time spent on the musical numbers would have been better used to provide a little more character development - after all, the film boasts an impressive cast, but sadly their talents are not exploited to their full potential.
accsys
This movie is aimed squarely at a female audience. The male characters are thinly drawn cartoons, and there's not much here for guys to enjoy besides some fairly limited female nudity. Movie musicals are difficult to execute properly. When this film broke into song, I just found it clumsy and I almost herniated myself attempting to suspend my disbelief.The achingly gorgeous Paz Vega _almost_ salvages the movie on her own ... she is definitely headed for mainstream worldwide stardom. I plan to see her in Spanglish - she has already had several nightly starring roles behind my eyelids. The only thing that may hold her back is her too-strong facial resemblance to a young Winona Ryder. Perhaps if Ms. Ryder's film career stays off the tracks, that will make room for Ms. Vega's ascent.
tcw-4
I was frankly getting a little bored even of World Cinema until I happened upon this little gem. It's everything Dennis Potter's (r.i.p) Singing Detective could/should have been but wasn't.As you'll appreciate from that summary, it has acting and singing - but don't let that put you off - PLEASE don't let that put you off. I hate musicals myself but this is FANTASTIC. Witty, wry, sexy - the lot.If you don't learn anything from this movie, can I stay at your house?It is a wonderful film. Watch it. Buy it. Steal it if you have to.
fredda_ruth
I liked the WEST SIDE STORY/Umbrellas of Cherbourg combination--- the characters exude understated loneliness and passion/longing in their (usually) solitary musings/hallucinations like the doomed lovers in the French film; while the superbly choreographed dances are lively, flamboyant and outrageous, as in the Robert Wise musical classic.The picture's quality is so sleek, glossy and crisp- just like the sharply polished characters with their cool jobs and lifestyles. Although they tend to be alienating --- so "Melrose Place", they belong to a TV show rather than a movie, they're just too devastatingly gorgeous, hip and lucky--- some characters have the odd, downright pathetic (though emotionally lightweight) predicament that make us somehow care about them (and of course, envy them).What further heightens my TV soap-opera comparison is the characters being trapped in the little world they created themselves, which, although very exciting, is also very stressful and complicated. Hence, the songs are mostly performed in small, enclosed places and in medium shots and close-ups, unlike in the grand, majestic West Side Story and Umbrellas of Cherbourg musicals.The highstrung dramatic moments are kept in check by the funny, ironic twists and the characters' amusing weaknesses, and why is it that the men are such cads and a-holes and cute lovable hunks at the same time?Despite the preoccupation with very personal "issues", the film manages to get some social commentary in. Though the guys in testosterone overdrive just wanna have fun, they acknowledge the warrior-like quality of women and the fact that it is they who control the sexual relationship. Likewise, the characters take "marriage" humorously and lightly- in fact, even mock it with a naughty grin. Not a particularly illuminating and substantial film, but its bombastic, wacky dances, sexy anatomies galore and sizzling, riotous swinging-sex-partner-swapping action guarantee that you're in for an enjoyable rockin' and bed-rollin...Best seen "on the other side of the bed" with your partner
