Review of Les Misérables (2012) by Peter A — 22 Sep 2013

I'm not big on musicals, especially these high epic musicals, and while I've come around a bit in recent years, Les Miserables set me back. But I admit up front, this review is tainted by my already reticent acceptance of musicals.

I had no idea 99% of the movie was in song form. Two and a half hours of that exhausted me. My only tears were from yawning. It seemed like the story was often overshadowed by giant melodramatic numbers, and some scenes felt like they went into grandiose songs about nearly mundane situations.

The film did serve to expose which actors are good singers (Jackman, Hathaway & Redmayne) and which are not so much (Crowe). I had high expectations about this, but realized it wasn't so much a movie as it was an event staged for those who already have an appetite for musical theater.

Just not my thing.