Review of The Greatest Showman (2017) by Erik R — 19 Feb 2018

The Greatest Showman (2017) is an American musical drama film with songs written by the winners of the 2017 Tony Award for Best Original Score, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen), and the Academy Award for Best Original Score, and Best Original Song for their work on La La Land (2016). The Greatest Showman is inspired by the imagination of Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum, an American showman, politician, businessman, and founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871-2017).

Throughout the film, we follow P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) through several episodes of his life: from his working-class beginnings as the tailor, Philo Barnum's (Will Swenson), son to the "showman" he becomes later in life. A young Barnum (Ellis Rubin) is juxtaposed with his future wife, a young Charity Hallett (Skylar Dunn), the daughter of Philo's and Phineas's employer, Mr. Hallett (Fredric Lehne). Phineas eventually finds his way into a unique new show business which is not well received at first. He enlists the help of respected playwright Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron) who immediately becomes enchanted with Anne Wheeler (Zendaya), an African-American trapeze artist, a mutual attraction, which plays out throughout the film.

While in England, Barnum meets Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), a famed Swedish opera singer, and convinces her to perform a tour in America, with him serving as her manager. The first performance is a huge success (Never Enough). The two develop a relationship that becomes uncomfortable and Barnum returns home where he begins to distance himself from his performers, refusing to socialize with them. In short, P.T. Barnum is celebrated in this film as a unifier of all who are considered "odd", bringing them out of their dark corners and into the limelight; despite the path he takes to get them there.

Based on the prior success of La La Land (2016) and Dear Evan Hansen (2016), this film does not live up to expectations. First, the music does not have to fit the period. However, to have a character who is an opera singer come out and sing a song that sounds like a crappy Kelly Clarkson song is quite unbelievable. The lyrics are terrible, the chord progressions are boring, the melodies are stale, and the meaning of the songs do not flow with the story. Also, the vocal talent in this show is anything but talent. The musical direction of these clearly auto-tuned, tinny sounding voices falls into every pop cliche that you've ever seen Mariah Carey exude in a public performance. The story of P.T. Barnum is an intriguing real-life story with complexities that are not apparent in this film. This film's story and screenplay (written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon) is a sorry representation of Barnum's life with only a small portion of his achievements represented. In real life, Barnum was mayor of Bridgeport, CT - and he was instrumental in bringing much of their infrastructure and public services into the new century. While this film mainly highlights Barnum's showmanship, Hugh Jackman's performance only opaquely reflects the man he is portraying; and then there is his horrible vocal performance. I thought that Jackman would be done for after Les Misérables (2012) and his butchering of Jean Valjean. I blame most of the vocal performance on Jackman, but the songs themselves are absolutely terrible - Frank Sinatra couldn't have sung those songs well either.

Then we come to the direction problems with this film. The main problem I have here is that Michael Gracey wastes our time with a romance we are not invested in and all kinds of other connective material. Who on Earth are Carlyle (Zac Efron) and Wheeler (Zendaya)? Why should I care that they're in love at first sight? The romance which we should care about (between Barnum and Charity Hallett) gets neglected and screen time is wasted on a more attractive (probably Best Supporting Actor/Actress Oscar-seeking) coupling as they are arguably the most attractive performers in the film. This film is like a marathon of crappy music videos interwoven with horrible dialogue and unbelievable characters that the audience tries but fails to invest in.

So let's review, here's what doesn't work with this film: the story, the direction, the music and musical performances, the acting, and I am sure there is much more I hated that I forgot about. Let me put it in perspective for you. I usually come out of a musical with the song stuck in my head for at least a week or two. When I left this film, I had I Know It's Today from the Broadway Musical, Shrek: The Musical (2008) stuck in my head all week. Here are two things that work for this movie: 1: it's in focus, 2: it's pretty short. I give it a 2/10. If you don't go to the cinema often, skip this film!