Nine

DISCLAIMER: I have not seen Fedrico Fellini's "8 1/2," released in 1963 or the stage adapation, "Nine," which originally opened on Broadway in 1982 and won the Tony for Best Musical. The following review is based solely on my viewing of the newest version of the story. I actually was completely unaware of the original movie and Broadway show until after I saw the trailer for the new movie. The assumption is that the original movie and play are both a lot better...

"Nine" is directed by Rob Marshall ("Chicago"). It stars Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood"), Marion Cotillard ("Public Enemies"), Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Judi Dench ("James Bond" movies starring Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig), Fergie, Kate Hudson ("Almost Famous"), Nicole Kidman ("Moulin Rouge), and Sophia Loren ("Man of La Mancha").

It's Italy in the 1960s. Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a film director who is working on a new movie and is having a mid-life crisis of sorts. He's having a heck of a time trying to start the production of his new movie. Besides his movies, Guido Contini is known for the various women in his life that have affected him greatly as a person. This includes his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his costume designer (Judi Dench), a random prostitute from his younger days (Fergie or Stacy Ferguson...whichever you prefer), a random and extremely annoying journalist (Kate Hudson), the star of many of his movies (Nicole Kidman), and his mother (Sophia Loren). Yeah, I opted not to list all the characters' names...it's just too much typing...

First of all, this movie has gotten some pretty horrible reviews. RottenTomatoes.com only gave it a 37% after averaging a ton of reviews. Most reviewers are only giving it 2 or 2 1/2 stars. Based on this I was expecting a horrible movie-going experience and extreme disappointment. This wasn't at all the case, though, and I thought the movie was much better than most reviewers would lead you to believe. This, of course, is assuming you like musicals to begin with. If you happen to hate them then just avoid "Nine" at all costs because it will just be slightly under 2 hours of absolute torture for you. Well, anyway, Rob Marshall directed "Chicago" in 2002 and it was an amazing movie and a great musical. It ran off with the Best Picture Oscar that year...which really bothers some people....but come on. "Taxi Driver," "Goodfellas," and "Saving Private Ryan" all should have won Best Picture...and they didn't. We just need to deal with it and move on with life. "Nine" is definitely not as good as "Chicago." Few movies will be and I'm assuming Rob Marshall will not be able to top it. I have a feeling Mr. Rob Marshall directing "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" will not end well...at all.

The casting in "Nine" is phenomenal. Take a look at that all-star cast listed a couple paragraphs ago. This movie definitely does not lack star power and apparently famous people flock to Rob Marshall when they hear he's making a new musical. These actors don't even need to have experience singing...somehow Rob Marshall works wonders with them. Kind of like Renee Zellweger in "Chicago"...didn't expect her to be that great at singing. So true, Daniel Day-Lewis isn't the best singer. He's not bad at all though. Give the man a break - he's trying out his Italian accent and singing all in the same movie. He is way better than Pierce Brosnan was in "Mamma Mia!"...listening to that man sing is a horrible experience...luckily a couple times he is drowned out by Meryl Streep being amazing. It gets me in a bad mood thinking that there is someone in this world who thought hiring Pierce Brosnan to sing was a good idea...it really wasn't. Oh yeah, I should probably talk about "Nine" again. Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor with a lot of range. Just comparing him to his character in 2007's "There Will Be Blood," Daniel Plainview, makes the range evident. He is convincing as a man who makes a lot of bad decisions and has to deal with the consequences that result. It is also interesting to see his relationships with each of the women in his life and how they affect the man. Daniel Day-Lewis has chemistry with all the women in "Nine." And for the most part Penelope Cruz and everyone are capable singers. There are definite exceptions...but people can get away with being less than perfect at singing in a movie. None of the singing really bothered me, until Kate Hudson came around and nearly destroyed everything. Her song in "Nine" is so absolutely horrendous it almost ruined my Sunday evening. It sounded like a song from "High School Musical" and completely took away from the movie and was ridiculously strange and random. The song was written just for this new movie. That was an awful idea and I hope that man has some deep regrets. And fun fact: she is the weak link in an otherwise fantastic cast...in case you didn't know. On the opposite side of the spectrum: Fergie...her singing "Be Italian" is almost worth the price of admission. It's probably the catchiest song on the soundtrack and is just really great and puts me in a good mood. I don't know where to say this so I'll put it here...the songs are not as memorable as in most musicals that I have seen...and it's quite a list.

"Nine" looks fantastic. The set design, lighting, and general cinematography are impressive. Besides the cast the cinematography is the other main selling point for the movie. Everything looks like it's from the 1960s and Italy is just beautiful. There are lots of darker colors and dimly lit scenes that add a nice feel to the movie. Some scenes were shot in black and white which make for some variety as well as an authentic 1960s look. There are great shots of people and their surrounding areas as well as just overall nice camera work. Rob Marshall definitely knows how to make a stunning movie - which is great, because who wants to watch a musical that's painful to look at?

The movie was a little confusing, editing-wise and such. Throughout the movie there are a lot of scenes in the present. These usually deal with Guido making his movie or dealing with his wife, mistress, or a variety of female counterparts. There are also a lot of flashbacks and daydreams where all of the musical numbers took place. This was a similar setup used in "Chicago." However, in "Nine" things get kind of convoluted and the flow of things is not as seamless. At times musical numbers appear a bit random, just not as random as in "Mamma Mia!"

So I enjoyed this movie a lot. I didn't find it boring at all and it didn't seem to drag on...like this review....sorry...I just type and see what comes out. The casting and cinematography are fantastic. At times the movie was a little hard to follow and after this sentence I will probably never mention that horrible Kate Hudson song ever again...it was very unpleasant. So yeah...I don't know why there so much hate for this movie. 3 out of 4 stars...I think. I was having trouble deciding...I'll have to rent it when it comes to DVD to get a second look at it. It's better than "Mamma Mia!" which really only has Meryl Streep going for it and not nearly as good as "Chicago" which had almost everything going for it.

-Joseph Sbrilli