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Wonderful Life was reportedly a huge hit in 1964 because of the immense popularity of its star, Cliff Richard. Sadly, it hasn't stood the test of time very well at all and when I caught up with it in 2024, it reflected very poorly on the movie-making of the day.

However, it is not without its merits. Around the beginning of the second hour of the movie, there is a humorous and nostalgic look at the history of the cinema, with Cliff, The Shadows, Susan Hampshire and Una Stubbs reviving memories of screen legends such as Charlie Chaplin, the Keystone Cops, Rudolf Valentino, the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, Douglas Fairbanks, Rhett Butler & Scarlett O'Hara and all the way through to James Bond and Ursula Andress. Cliff and Susan Hampshire in particular shine brightly through this segment. And, indeed, Susan Hampshire shines brightly throughout the film.

If you can hold on through the corny plot, the movie nostalgia scene is worth waiting for. If you can't stand the nonsense in the first half of the film, fast-forward to this scene.

Melanie Tait's stage play of the same name was witty, engaging and entertaining. The 5 female characters told the meaningful story with humour and the right amount of pathos.

By contrast, the movie features too many outdoor settings, a cast of about 100 characters, and more storyline. This extra dialogue proves to be less interesting and also overwhelms the humour of the stage play. Sometimes simpler is better.

The movie has an acceptable IMDB rating, so others who have not seen the stage play may have found the storyline interesting enough. However, for me, while the stage play was witty, engaging and entertaining, the movie is preachy, with too much dialogue and therefore less engaging.

See the stage play instead, especially if it features the brilliant Sharon Millerchip in the lead role.

This movie should have been better. It told a good story. It had a strong cast of principals. Hugh Jackman was strong and believable in the lead role and J K Simmons was reliably good. However, the movie suffered badly by poor sound mixing. In his attempt to reflect realistically the chaotic nature of political campaigning, director Jason Reitman merely created distracting dialogue drowned out by background noise, particularly in the first 30 minutes of the film. This caused a disconnect and I was never able to become fully immersed in the action. I also struggled to understand the muffled dialogue of some of the supporting characters, all of which detracted from my enjoyment of the movie. An important issue was raised toward the end of the movie: why would any young candidate aspire to become President knowing that the media will examine every aspect of their life and distort, sensationalise and lie about it to create news? Is this why 78-year-old Joe Biden was the best candidate the Democrats could put forward for President in the 2020 election? Were younger candidates wary of the relentless media scrutiny? This important issue aside, The Front Runner should have been a better movie but instead wallowed in mediocrity, despite the strong performances of Jackman and Simmons.