Review of Gigi (1958) by Richard L — 25 Feb 2013

'Gigi' is a musical directed by Vincente Minnelli and based on the novella of the same name. The film is about a young girl being trained to be a courtesan by her grandmother and aunt for an older man.

The story and characters are far from being interesting. The movie is very forgettable, and it tries far too hard to be incredibly sweet, cute, and whimsical when its story is a tad creepy especially because it is about a young girl basically being trained to be a high-class prostitute.

The songs are also a large down side of the film. A vast majority of the songs were bland, had no rhythm whatsoever, and completely forgettable. Honestly, the only song I found to be memorable was 'The Night They Invented Champagne,' my favorite song in the film.

Another problem is, often, how blandly shot the song sequences are. There is often little to no movement during the songs. For example, in some songs, the only thing the singers are doing is sitting down.

This is another reason 'The Night They Invented Champagne' is my favorite song sequence. There was such a large amount of movement that it was not boring to look at. Admittedly, the film does look very nice with the costumes and sets, but they are not enough to save the movie.

Overall, 'Gigi' is a bland and forgettable movie musical, and to quote Gaston from this movie in a phrase that very well describes the movie, "It's a bore.".