MovieChat Forums > Funny Girl (1968) Discussion > Was I the only one

Was I the only one

posted 13 years ago by actionmanozzie
15 replies | jump to latest

Who like... hated this film ???

Okay, that's an overstatement, I didn't hate it. But, I felt badly. My sister came over and insisted on watching it, and while I thought that the first "half" I guess was good at the beginning and "okay" towards the middle. The second half held almost none of my attention and I felt like the second half just drug on and on and on and on... I mean it was just... not only a total downer... I just felt like it was lonnnnnnnnng...

Plus... I know we're supposed to "Assume" that Nick never came back to her... but he never said whether he was going to or not specifically...

I felt like it was such a weird way to end... >_> I hated it.

[–] mikwalen 13 years ago

It's one of my favorite movie musicals ... but Act 2 starts to drag. The stage version was bouncier in Act 2.

"Please stop hitting me - it's SO lower-case"

[–] Presrules 13 years ago

The film is also very very dated. It packed a better punch when it first came out, although the stage version was superior.

[–] leader-7 13 years ago

how is the film dated? It takes place in the early part of the last century. By definition, it's history -- about Brice, the Follies, about how shows were put together. It's about a whole other part of our collective existence.

[–] Presrules 13 years ago

No, leader-7, not the subject, of course. I meant the way it was made, the particular quality to the staging, the color, the musical -- all connects to that type of filmmaker at the end of the 1960's. Like Oliver! even to a lesser extend My Fair Lady. Funny Girl is also not historically accurate albeit highly entertaining.

[–] leader-7 13 years ago

Oh! Right then. of course.
Well, the producer, Ray Stark, was Fanny's son in law. They took a lot of artistic license -- and changed many facts to make the story less awful and a little more 'fun' such as it was. She did have a tragic but successful life.

[–] blondee661 13 years ago

I think it's a pretty good movie, and it does have some flaws. I just wish it kept more of the original music from the show. And like the orignal poster suggested, the second act really drags on in the movie.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] eatmorecoffee 8 years ago

I agree, it's quite old fashioned. I just watched it again and the version I watched had five minutes of black screen at the beginning for the overture. In a modern film you would have the setting, the credits, some back story, etc in that time. It had an intermission too. No one does intermission in Western cinema any more. It's long, moves quite slowly. As entertainment I liked the first half. As a child I remember being bored and puzzled by the miserable husband thing. It's a strange place for the story to end really - though I guess it's a filmed version of a musical, and there aren't many of those anymore either. it's not a doco about fanny brice. Good songs and some funny lines from the Babster. I imagine it would be better on stage. I loved Chicago on stage, but the film version was kind of dull.

I love Bab's eye make up and hair in this film, but it's about as early 1900s as I am now.

[–] singjohn 12 years ago

Think of Funny Girl as an incomplete story. The second part, Funny Lady, shows that Fanny Brice's life continued without Nick. When he reappeared, she felt stronger because she had outgrown him.

In reality, Arnstein deserted Brice and the two children she had with him.

[–] billgbg 12 years ago

The film is mainly for people who are always asking "What's Happening now?" because there is never a moment that is confusing in it. Everything is explained over and over, if not literally then through acting "business"..their face expressions, etc.
It's almost like the film wasa intended for the least intellectual, least mindful people, who've never seen other films, who can't remember anything past a few minutes, who can't handle any difficult concepts.

No I'd rather talk to cat than watch this film.

[–] singjohn 12 years ago

Funny Girl's exposition is very much in the outline of the traditional musical (something happens then someone sings a song about it). You might find this style a bit too simplistic but that's how they wrote these back in the day.

[–] speedy1383 12 years ago

I understand this thread completely. I just saw it for the first time. Thought it was going to be one of the best musicals I've seen. I was a bit disappointed. Compared to musicals like Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Sound of Music, Oklahoma, etc this pales greatly in comparison. The 2 most famous songs were nice. But the rest of the songs were forgettable. I didn't particularly get swept in by the story. I honestly didn't like Fanny. She was disrespectful, wasn't particularly funny, a bit of a stalker and weird. Barbara Streisand was good in it. Her timing was impeccable. Maybe what we know now about Streisand colored my opinion of Fanny. I don't know. I will just say that I was disappointed in the film. I was expecting a great musical and this wasn't IMO.

[–] HeartOfSky 10 years ago

I agree. I just watched it last night and thought that it was one of the worst stories I've ever seen. I loved the look of the film and think it was well made, but the story itself was so... bleh. Probably the most sexist movie I've ever seen.

[–] toldyousew 10 years ago

Character is revealed by how you treat people with no power.

[–] tpcorless 9 years ago

I like Funny Girl but I agree the second half drags. I just don't care about Nick. But Barbra is excellent in the second half of the film and is the only reason for watching the movie until the end.