Opening Night

I love movies and i love music(being a musician myself) but for me it's a case of "Never the twain shall meet". In short I hate people singing in my movies. But this was bloody well done, just the right amount of singing and it made sense. In an era where most "comedies" try to depress the hell out of you for an hour (with a few scattered chuckles thrown in), before the funny and "poignant" ending. This was funny from the start and kept going all the way through. Definitely worth a watch and very entertaining.

The title gives it all away, opening night of a musical show in Broadway. This film is like a short trip down memory lane with all the songs and the familiar players, the star of the show, the big egos , the crazy, frantic scenarios backstage before the curtain rises and what happens in the dressing rooms after the curtain falls. The singing is not a la Rock of Ages, ditzy and over the top, but here it's like the characters are practicing in front of a karaoke machine before going onstage to audition for Simon Cowell. Please lower your expectation bar in order to enjoy the cheesiness and candyness of this film.

I actually like musicals, but this one just didn't quite work for me. I am a huge Topher Grace fan, and I liked the rest of the cast--it wasn't their fault. The cast delivered what was asked of them. It was a grin hearing all of the "one-hit wonders" again, but some of the arrangements didn't do the music justice--especially for a musical based on popular and well known songs. Of course the story line had all of the usual musical ingredients--love story, boy loses girl, etc. etc. with some fine dancing thrown in. I really should have enjoyed the film much more than I did.

I believe the fault was in the way the story was told--there was simply too much of the "poor me" aspect, and not enough of the rallying, let alone the come back. It's like they emphasized the wrong part of the movie, or else rushed the ending to wrap it up before the story was fully told. It left an empty space where character development/growth should have gone. The uplifting ending was just too abrupt. If it was a song, it would be a three note lullaby.

If you like musicals you should like this. If you don't care about character development, especially in a musical--then you'll like this. It just didn't quite hit the mark for me. Could have been much better with a little more development. It wasn't terrible, or even bad, just- -forgive me, flat and a little "pitchy".

I had not read about this movie when I watched it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the witty comments and references. It had me laughing quite a few times. I feel it is a bit of a "parody" in some ways, but no overkill by any means. It was a fun and easy watch. I think you have to like the genre musical, even if this is not a 100% musical. A bit goofy and silly overall, just as I like it. Cast was OK as well, good mix of known and less known. Movie of the year? No, but worth 1.5 hours in my opinion.

Well color me happy there's a sofa in here for two! This must be one of the most entertaining movies I've seen in a long time. Such an amazing script (all those hilarious lines, all the pop culture references in every other sentence, the light-hearted self deprecating humor...), and such fantastic delivery, I tried to will it not to end. Excluding the cheesy AF unrealistic ending, I loved every scene. One has to be well-versed in the music and celebrity tidbits of the past three decades to get everything, to say the least, though.

There was also quite a bit of soul-searching for quite a few characters, and amazingly, it was all done smoothly and with just the right amount of depth. That's a tough thing to accomplish in such a short time, but they nailed it!

So yeah, I definitely recommend it. "Treat yo self".