Bye Bye Birdie

Some individually talented people are miscast and mismatched in this strained dud. Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams are not a match made in Heaven. Kim appears to be 30. And how do you screw up The Telephone Hour? They did.

I have always loved the original movie, but I decided to watch this version to see if this one was nearly as good. Although this version sticks closely to the stage play, and nearly keeps the same script, it is dull and I found myself fast forwarding many slow scenes. If you're going to watch the movie, watch the Ann-Margret version, which is absolutely wonderful. There are many MANY flaws with this one.

1. Could the dialogue scenes be any more boring?? This was not a problem in the original! Even some of the newer songs ("Giant Step", etc. just made it drag!)

2. You would think with Ann Reinking as the choreographer the dances would be brilliant. WRONG! The fast-paced songs consisted of the teens clicking their fingers. That's IT. Sure, sometimes they actually SKIPPED or something but basically songs like "American Boy", "Honestly Sincere", and "Telepone Hour" were standstill numbers.

3. Half the people in this movie can't act OR sing. Which you think would be one of the requirements when you are putting on a movie musical. Especially the females who play Kim and Mrs. MacAfee.

4. Casting Chynna Phillips as Kim was a TERRIBLE mistake. Sure, she's pretty but at the time of filming she was a 27 year old playing a 17 year old, and it shows! And she can't sing or act...and she's one of the leads!! I cringed when she opened her mouth to sing, enough said. This is a minor complaint, but isn't this Hugo just a little TOO cute to play a dorky teen like Bobby Rydell did in the original?

Now to the good parts! Jason Alexander is my new Albert Peterson!! He was BRILLIANT! And Vanessa L. Williams BLEW me away as Rosie!! Thank Goodness the director had some brains casting them!! They were amazing to watch. And even though people have complained about the girl who played Ursula - I thought she was the best teen in this whole movie - especially when she sings "Bye Bye Birdie" . She was a bubbly, obnoxious teen - which is what Ursula should be! That's another problem with this movie - they make the small songs like "An English Teacher" and "Bye Bye Birdie" the hits of the movie and the MAIN songs - well, boring. The last hour or so of the movie they should have cut, it was so boring! And don't even get me started on Conrad! Do they not know he was supposed to be sexy??? Watch the first half hour for Jason and Vanessa - then turn the TV off!!!

I think it's mostly due to some of the most...questionable casting I have ever seen that makes this movie not work. I mean, they make this big to-do about Rosie being Spanish in this one. I think that's because Chia Rivera had the role in the play, but Chia Rivera is (assumingly) Spanish. Why wasn't a Spanish lady cast in this one instead of Vanessa Williams? It's down-right ridiculous and they keep emphasising that she's Spanish to make it even worse. At least in the 1963 one, when Janet Leigh played Rosie they were smart enough to change the last name and not try to pass her off as something she wasn't.

The casting of Chynna Phillips as Kim was every bit as...well, wrong. She was obviously pushing 30 and quite looked it to, as did every other "teen" in this film. As for Jason Alexander as a romantic lead? Uh..no comment. Plus, I hate when Albert wants to become an English teacher instead of a scientist. I'm aware that it is in the play and such, but it's boring, especially that song that keeps getting reprised where Rosie sings about him wanting to be one. And Alexander is just not right for that part. But nobody really is in this film, sorry to say. Even the usually good Tyne Daly cannot is quite grating and hammy as Albert's mother, and some part where she emerges from a bay of water to give somebody advice and then swims away was horrificly ridiculous.

And what about the climactic ending? I'm not sure about the play, but the 1963 film was able to get to its big climactic scene of Conrad Birdie finally being able to perform at the Ed Sullivan show, after they got rid of the Russians who almost pre-empted him. The people behind this film said in an interview that they got rid of all of the Cold War humor, but why? Maybe the Cold War had ended in 1995, but this is a film set in the 60s when it was still going strong. Did they think Russians watching would be offended? They understand history and can comprehend that those aren't our feelings toward them now. I hate when films try to be all PC like that. It just makes them look bad.

But being PC wasn't the only thing that made this look bad. It was gone way before the ending.

Although I always loved the 1963 film version of Bye Bye Birdie I never realized how different it was from the Broadway production until I saw this remake on TV. This was an absolute joy to watch from beginning to end and more tuned to older audiences than the 1963 version which was aimed primarily at the younger set.

In my opinion this was better than the original. The cast is great. Jason Alexander shines as Albert, he has a fantastic voice!! Vanessa Williams was a wonderful Rosie!! All of the cast was fabulous. If you are a fan of the original film or the musical see this version. It's alot of fun!!