Funny Girl (1968) Review:

Movie genres can be combined to make any kind of hybrid production. This can lead to different levels in how the story is told and how audiences may react or take the movie. Musicals in general can incorporate any genre and make it into an interesting showing. It may be more unlikely that a horror film could be turned into a musical, but it's not impossible. It takes the right balance of everything to make sure that whatever is trying to be depicted gets across correctly to the audience. However, it can be confusing when the title and genre of film suggest one thing, and later on show nothing of the sort. That seems to be the problem with this movie; or so it seems.

"Ummm hi, I don't have stage fright,....promise"

Featuring the debut of Barbra Streisand, a vocal powerhouse at the time, plays real life comedienne Fanny Brice. The plot follows her start of showbiz, her rise to fame and her relationship with Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif). The script, written by Isobel Lennart, as her last credit, has no issue with showing Brice's career progression whatsoever. With credits to other films like It Happened in Brooklyn (1947), Lennart must have had some kind of experience to produce a good screenplay. The problem however is in the title and execution. Was this William Wyler's issue as director? Hard to say, with having films like Carrie (1952) and Ben-Hur (1959) attached to his resume, who knows.

Somehow though, the tone of the script and the performances from the cast do not match on a regular basis. This film falls into the category of a comedy, drama and musical. Yet there's mostly drama and music. For a title with the word "funny" in it, there aren't many laughs to be had except for some sporadic ones. Adding to that is the 2.5 hour run time. While the production design is well constructed and elaborate, there are a bunch of overly padded scenes that seem to take longer than usual. This does not however discredit the actors involved in the film. Although the cast in this film is small, the amount of extras used in the background is horrendously large (but all for good reason).

Streisand and Omar Sharif have plenty of chemistry to share with each other. The emotions displayed on screen feel properly acted and emoted well. Sharif who played in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) definitely has the chops to be a suave husband for the love interest. There's also Walter Pidgeon who plays Florenz Ziegfeld, who ends up moving Brice into the spotlight. And while these actors work, the script fails to show a struggle for almost none of the showing. While at first it seemed as though no one wanted to have Fanny Brice in their shows, once she met Nick, her success never stopped. That, and when things didn't seem to work out Brice made decisions that contradicted her motives. The actions do not really make sense when someone enjoys that much success and it doesn't make them truly likable either.

Omar Sharif as Nick Arnstein

For visuals and music though, this feature had it in the bag. Harry Stradling Sr. was the man behind the camerawork. With experience in other films like Over the Moon (1939) and Gypsy (1962), it's no wonder the shots filmed look so large in scale. With musical writers like Jule Styne ("Don't Rain on My Parade") and Walter Scharf, composer to Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958), the musical pieces are enjoyable to listen to. That and having Barbara Streisand's solid vocals makes the performances all the more authentic. Unfortunately, because the execution to the story is so tonally confused, the music does not have the same emotional impact as it should.

Everything about the production is well done. From the camerawork, to the musical compositions, to the production design and the actors’ performances. Yet, the script gets so lost in telling a story with very little conflict that it doesn't feel like there's much to get behind. Not to mention the padded timing and very few scenes being funny either.

Points Earned --> 5:10