The Greatest Showman

Written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon
Directed by Michael Gracey

Okay, let’s get the biggest thing out of the way: The Greatest Showman changes and glosses over SO MUCH that term “biopic” is BARELY applicable here. BARELY.

Now. Having said that.

I shouldn’t have liked this movie. Anyone who reads these reviews is probably very familiar with my preference of substance over style. Greatest Showman, on most accounts, fails this test, which I’ll talk about in just a moment. But dang it...I still enjoyed the film.

The superb style of the film doesn’t make up for the subpar substance, but that style is so breathtaking that it almost, almost, makes one forget the problems that course through its 105 minutes.

I should pause here to say, I find it difficult to NOT compare this film to La La Land, the last big non-Disney movie musical I experienced. I love a lot of movie musicals. Not all of them (I’m looking at you, Jersey Boys, Phantom of the Opera, OR ESPECIALLY YOU, The Producers), but for every Rent, there’s a Chicago that shows how a movie musical can be done. I know I’m in the minority, but I could not stand La La Land. So, I was apprehensive about Greatest Showman, especially when the trailers made sure you knew that this film was from the lyricists of La La Land. Yes, they wrote Dear Evan Hanson too, but I dislike La La Land THAT MUCH that I was leery.

The very subject matter of the film allows for some spectacular technical wizardry, from the costumes (which, admittedly, is a subject I’m not incredibly attached to), to the scenic design, but most especially, the cinematography and music. The cinematography definitely owes a debt of thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge, particularly in the musical numbers. While not as frenetically edited as Luhrmann’s film, first-time feature director Michael Gracey handles his camera with a masterful fluidity, making an exciting number even more energetic, to where I constantly found myself tapping my foot in time.

Much of that is also due to the extraordinary music by Pasek and Paul. I was already very familiar with “This is Me” (more on that in a moment), and had heard “Rewrite the Stars” once, but I deliberately kept the rest of the score at bay until I could experience it with the film. As I mentioned, I was apprehensive about the score, but every number exceeded my expectations, with the exception of “Tightrope”, which was the weakest number in the film (but this might also have something to do with Michelle Williams (again, I’ll get there)). “Rewrite the Stars” gets a lot of love, and I generally liked it, but I do wish Zac Efron didn’t go into his falsetto during the chorus (but I’m not sure whose choice that was).

Keala Settle and the cast of The Greatest Showman perform “This is Me”

The standout number is, of course, “This is Me”, a rousing number about being proud of who you are. A number like this one could fall flat in so many ways, but Pasek and Paul hit it perfectly, and I definitely teared up watching it in context. It’s a perfectly timely anthem that helps illustrate the message of the film, even if that message is completely fictional in regards to the actual events (the film is more “Diversity is great, also, don’t be small-minded”, whereas in reality it was more “P. T. Barnum is a really terrible person who exploits people for his own profit”. That’s...kind of a big difference).

That difference between fiction and reality isn’t what brings the film down (although I would still love to see a more true-to-life version). As I mentioned, the actual substance of the film is incredibly weak and flimsy. I’ve used the phrase “subtlety like a sledgehammer” before, and that description is incredibly apt here. The plot is predictable from a mile away (I spent a lot of the movie thinking to myself, “Oh, now this is going to happen”. I mean, A LOT). The characters don’t fare much better, and are so one dimensional that names seem like an afterthought. He’s low class, and wants to be rich! He’s rich, but wants to follow his heart! She’s a black trapeze artist! He’s a little person! She has a beard! I legitimately learned MAYBE four characters names throughout the course of the film. Once we learn a character’s single defining character trait (or MAYBE two, in Hugh Jackman’s case), that’s ALL we learn about them.

Michelle Williams and Hugh Jackman’s back in The Greatest Showman

This is most apparent in Michelle William’s character, whose role is either written, or played (or both?), as so paint-by-numbers, that it’s amazing they bothered to get a big(ger) name star for the role. She spends the entire film being saddled with her two daughters, “Important Daughter” and “And Peggy”, and looking apologetic to anyone who bothers to glance at her for two seconds. It’s a performance we’ve seen time and time again, and Williams, either by direction or by choice, doesn’t even accomplish it all that well. And she doesn’t even get a great song out of the deal. Sigh.

As I said, normally, all these negatives should have torpedoed my enjoyment of the film, but, so help me, I still had a good time. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s a great escapism, with a pretty good message, to boot. It is a little bittersweet that Barnum’s circus finally closed last year, after nearly 150 years of performances, 7 months before the film opened. Perhaps this film will give just enough of an interest boost to revive it, but at the very least, those of us who were, at some point, lucky enough to experience it can use this film as a way to relive it, and hopefully it brings a smile to our faces, which, judging from the quote that ends the film, is probably something Barnum would have enjoyed.

FINAL GRADE: B