FilmSnobReviews

Title: The Greatest Showman
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Michael Gracey
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

What It Is: P.T. Barnum (Jackman) is the man who invented the circus but he wasn’t always that. No, he grew up a poor tailors boy. When he uses his gift of gab to craft a show no one has ever seen before the media vilifies him for creating a “circus”. One filled with people society frowned upon and found indecent. Barnum found them fascinating and thought the world would too. With the help of his new business partner Phillip Carlyle (Efron) and his gang of circus “freaks” Barnum is out to show the world “The Greatest Show on Earth”

What We Think: I’m a sucker for musicals. This has some good songs even if the film around those songs isn’t all that great. Hugh Jackman gives an excellent and charismatic performance as Barnum and Efron have all the charm you’d expect. What lets them down is the material. The script isn’t great and the story trugs along instead of moving with the quickness of other recent musicals like La La Land. You will more than likely be bouncing in your seat, and with the sing-along version coming out it will definitely bring the party to a theater near you.

Our Grade: B-, Seeing this get nominated for Golden Globes is weird. I suppose the Hollywood Foreign Press loves them some musicals…or the circus…or a combination of the two. This wasn’t even Jackman’s or Williams’ best performance of 2017. Jackman, of course, was brilliant in Logan. There’s certainly some catchiness to some of the songs. It certainly has that going for it. This was one of the last films we saw in 2017 and it was a very fun way to finish up the year.