MovieChat Forums > Funny Girl (1968) Discussion > Dull Melodrama?

Dull Melodrama?

posted 12 years ago by billgbg
3 replies | jump to latest

The songs are nice, but does anybody here really think this story is satisfying...at all?

The audience I was with had to suffer through scenes that reveal way to much about how the action is going, so for example when Nick is arrested in the last act, it's hardly a big surprise to anyone. Fanny is saying, "I never knew," and that's pretty unbelievable in a marriage.

I caught myself just enjoying the old traditions of Hollywood movies: the super heavy pancake makeup and strong lighting on the face, star filters for her flashy ear rings, the other actors (all the men look way over 5o years old) who only have a single line like "yep" or "over there"..you're supposed to NOT see those guys, and that kind of film making doesn't exist right now.

Also they take the time to fully sound design the way the wine enters the drinking glasses: What film have you seen lately that isn't so full of noise that you can actually hear liquid entering a glass in 6 channel, magnetic stereo--and there's not gunshots, screaming, music, or BLAM! noises going on?

The director is a really old hand, so he's the one who originally put all that stuff into movies--the greased down hair for me, strong "kicker" lights for the female's hair, good eye lighting, smooth cameras catching the action, beautiful, full smiling mouths full of gleaming teeth...man, you just don't see that anymore.

[–] leader-7 12 years ago

Get over yourself. Yes, it was stylized. It was also done in 1968. Times change.

The movie was brilliant. and generally reflected the lifestyle of the times in which it occurred. Was it historically accurate to the moment? No. Were all the scenes on the mark? Absolutely not. (e.g., the tugboat going under the brooklyn, manhattan, williamsburg, bridges -- she'd have left from the Hudson River, not the east river -- so that was totally wrong.) But who cares. it was great, nevertheless.

[–] LuvvieHowell 12 years ago

Your comment is rude.

I didn't like the storyline. Everything Brice does, EVERYTHING, is based on her deep and extreme insecurities about her nose. Let's face it, that was the only bad feature on Streisand's face. She had a killer body, beautiful eyes, gorgeous lips, but that nose...that big, huge, honking' Jew NOSE (I get to say that, 'cuz I'm part Jewish and also have a big nose).

It ran her life, made all the decisions. She fell in love with a man she didn't feel she was worthy of...put up with his criminal lifestyle, and made a career out of showing large audiences how much she detested herself.

As a woman, and as a feminist, I do not like this movie. It contradicts itself constantly. She's insecure, she doesn't think she's pretty, but GET OUTTA MY WAY! So which is it? Is she full of self doubt or braggadocio? The combination of swaggering self promotion and self-hatred is not pretty or entertaining.

In the end, with all the fame, glory, money, she still loses her man. Streisand spends nearly all the film singing about her self pity.

Sorry, I know this is supposed to be a "brilliant" film, but it was not appealing to me.

Please note: I managed to comment on the MOVIE without putting someone else (another poster) down. I suggest you try the same, sir. Thanks.

[–] Prismark10 11 years ago

There was little meat to the story. Fanny Brice becomes a big star and her personal life suffers.

Its that man again!!