The Greatest Showman (2017)

This is a rare occasion for me.

I don’t think The Greatest Showman is a good movie, but I did enjoy watching it most of the time. It’s not a guilty pleasure; it’s more like a sugary, rich dessert that doesn’t strike me as inventive or unique but also doesn’t make me sick of its richness.

What does this, no doubt, are the musical numbers. They took me out of The Greatest Showman in the best way possible. Let’s be real: this movie doesn’t know what character development is. It doesn’t know how to craft a compelling story. What it does know how to do is tell a story through music, and for that reason it’s actually quite tolerable to a fan of musicals like myself.

It’s not just that the music itself is good; the numbers are filmed well in their own right. They are choreographed and shot quite competently, and the vocal performances are excellent as well. My personal favorites were “Rewrite the Stars,” “The Other Side,” and the likely Oscar contender “This Is Me.” There’s only one number that didn’t work for me, and it had to do with the character of Jenny Lind. She was a renowned Swedish opera singer that Barnum brought to the States as a means of getting a better reputation among those in the arts. Her song is good, but when it wasn’t an operatic piece and instead a standard pop musical number, it let me down: it would have been a nice way to distinguish her from the acts in the circus.

One other positive thing to note: Jackman’s performance. I love the man in almost everything he’s in, and The Greatest Showman only cements that in my mind. His musical and cinematic talents are something to behold. The other performances are fine too, but his easily shines above the rest.

The problem with The Greatest Showman is that it doesn’t have a compelling story to back up the music. It’s very loosely associated with Barnum’s real-life story and glosses over most of the more interesting parts of it. There’s no mention of the Civil War or any of the racial convictions of Barnum (which, actually, were quite ahead of his time) that made his show that much bigger of a deal. The story instead opts to hit only the cliché story beats for a family-friendly inspirational film, and that is such a waste of the music at play.

While The Greatest Showman unfortunately isn’t a very good movie, the music and Jackman’s performance do help it become a pretty palatable one. It has plenty of colorful shots and enthralling music that kept me entertained when I saw it. My guess is that most people will be distracted enough by them to not see the poorer aspects of the film, and that probably helps the film to be more effective than it otherwise might be.

My recommendation: See it if you’re a fan of Jackman or musicals; otherwise, skip it.

My grade: 53/100