Review of Funny Girl (1968) by Stephen M — 22 Mar 2008

Funny Girl, from its inception, is a property that always leaves me vaguely disatisfied. First of all, who decides that there needs to be a musical about the life of Fanny Brice? Very few people - even when the original musical came out - really remembered Fanny; or cared. AND YET, thanks to great writing (most notably the tuneful score by Jule Styne) and thanks to a star making performance by Streisand, the world fell in love with FUNNY GIRL, when it was still a Broadway musical.

It was only natural that, when the time came to make the musical into a movie, they bring the driving force behind the success of the play with: the star. That's all great and wonderful.

But it cannot explain why they would take the incredibly thick accented Omar Sharif (wonderful in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) and cast him to play the American (and seriously unattractive) Nick Arnstein. Ok, suspend your disbelief! It's ok!).

Then there is the matter of how the first half of the movie is filled with romance and humour and snappy tunes and then BAM! it gets so depressing and serious. Onstage, even when Nick and Fanny's marriage is in trouble, they gave us a couple of light songs (Rat Tat Tat Tat) and some humour; and at the end of the piece, we have a defiant Fanny singing a reprisal of Don't Rain on My Parade and showing the audience that she will survive this. They end the movie with (a stunnng performance, I kid you not) the very depressing Oh My Man I Love Him So themed emotion. This isn't a determined or defiant Fanny: it's a co dependant and depressed one.

All of my criticisms are beside the point, though, becaus I love this movie. I love the play, I love the movie and I love Streisand in them (didn't see the play, only play the cast album). It got her an Oscar (I think it was the My Man number - which I have read she filmed live - that got her the award) and it will be considered her signature role, forever.

Not for non musical lovers and ESPECIALLY not for detractors of the great Miss Streisand.

Fortunately I don't fit into either category.