Funny Lady

There's one big musical number by an otherwise underused Ben Vereen that shows why he became a household name despite little screen work. Oh, if only that sparkle was evident in the rest of this movie! Barbra has one good splashy musical number, and a song toward the end that propels the story to its conclusion (the only song to almost live up to the music in Funny Girl).

The character of Fanny Brice is brasher and not as likable than she was in 1968. Even less likable is James Caan as the overconfident producer Billy Rose who shoves his way into Fanny's career and life. Omar Sharif he ain't, but he does have chemistry with Streisand. The fact that Billy insults Roddy McDowall (also underused) in his first scene sets the tone for how he comes across for the remainder of the film, and that's tough to endure. There's also no Kay Medford and no Walter Pigeon.

However, if one were to watch this at face value NOT KNOWING that a near-perfect original preceded it--it'd be okay, worth seeing once anyway just to know how Brice's story turns out.

As for Sharif reprising the role of Nicky Arnstein, well, his presence only reminds the viewer how much BETTER and more HEART the original film had. Their relationship could not be a more fitting metaphor for this sequel: the magic just isn't there anymore.

This musical is just brutal. After the sensational soaring of FUNNY GIRL this bludgeoning sequel is what CARRY ON CLEO is to CLEOPATRA. Honestly, I thought Barbra was channeling Phil Silvers in TOP BANANA against James Caan still in Sonny Corleone mode. Or commode perhaps. The production values and the color is good but Barbra yakketyyakking at Caan's bemused head for 140 minutes just left me punch drunk. Ben Vereen leaping about and Roddy being wistful was sort of OK and some of the dance numbers were enjoyable in a cardboard way. I would actually like the see the reportedly cut scenes, especially James Caan singing "Does your chewing gum get stale on the bedpost overnight" (true) ...apparently he is playing it on a typewriter at the time, and whatever else they decided was 'not good enough' as opposed to what was already there. This even has a imitation 'Don't Rain On My Parade' number with planes trains and automobiles instead of a tug. Something this lady might have actually needed. Brutal. Clobbering. Thank God we weren't bulldozed with FUNNY GRANNY, but I guess there is still time.

Okay sequel to the wonderful Funny Girl is missing several key ingredients that hold it back from the level of the first film. The most important would seem to be director William Wyler, who kept the first film moving even at an extended length this one plods here and there. The supporting characters here aren't as enjoyable or fleshed out as in the first, where is Kay Medford's wonderful mother? Most of the music is excellent, the problem with most is the staging. We only get snippets of many of them like "More Than You Know" and "Am I Blue" and several of the ones we do get full versions of are muddled, the worst is "It's Gonna Be a Great Day". Barbra gives a great rendition of the song but it's drowned mostly in long shots and the sound of the shuffling feet of the surrounding dancers. "Let's Hear It For Me" is a blatant ripoff of "Don't Rain on My Parade". There is a haunting version of "If I Love Again" though. Caan is alright as Billy Rose but he and Babs share little chemistry and he mostly shouts his part hardly making the most romantic leading man. As for Streisand, who made this under duress from a contract obligation, she is of course loaded with talent but seems brittle and haughty, two things Fanny Brice never was. The production design is excellent and some of the costumes are eye popping, the feathered dress in itself is amazing, but they are dressing up an average affair. Not a waste of time just don't go into it expecting the high quality of the first film.

Don't expect too much out of this sequel to the fantastic musical Funny Girl. In general, sequels don't measure up to the originals, and this is no exception. For those of you who haven't seen the first one, I won't ruin the movie by telling you what this one's about. I'll just tell you it's post-Funny Girl, and let you find out what that means.

Alright, now that you're not going to compare it to the 1968 classic, you're in a better position to appreciate it. Just start from scratch: Barbra Streisand plays performer Fanny Brice and gets to wear some great wigs and outfits. Her black dress in the show-stopping number "How Lucky Can You Get?" is fantastic! The movie gives a balance to silly onstage songs like "I've Got a Code in My Doze" (yes, I know...) and Fanny's personal life. It's the Great Depression and people can't afford luxuries like the theater anymore - but what about the great showman Billy Rose? With his novel, and sometimes gaudy, ideas, she might maintain her A-tier status. There's a love triangle between Omar Sharif and James Caan (gee, tough decision) and some personal sorrow thrown into the mix. See, it's not bad!

Again, don't expect another Funny Girl. Barbra tries as hard as she can, but nothing can touch the original. It's a tough act to follow, and neither the songs nor story are as good. But give it a whirl and see what you think. I'm not a James Caan fan, but this is as likable as he gets. There's even one scene, when he says he needs to be needed, where he's actually a little cute.

I first saw "Funny Lady" in 1979, when it was in heavy rotation on Showtime. At the time I loved it. Not a surprise: I was 12, in the early stages of my Barbra Streisand obsession and it was the first one of her movies I had ever seen. When it appeared on TCM recently I decided to take another look now that more than 30 years have passed, my Streisand obsession has cooled and I've since seen "Funny Girl," as well as everything else in the Streisand filmography save "Little Fockers" (you have to draw the line somewhere). I still enjoyed it, but I saw it for what it was: a contractual obligation.

Streisand didn't want to make the movie — reportedly only agreeing to it when threatened with a lawsuit — and it shows in her performance, the star often appearing annoyed and impatient with the proceedings. But then, who could blame her? The story, loosely based on Fanny Brice's marriage to Billy Rose, isn't fully developed here, lazily told and clumsily directed by Herbert Ross, with montages filling in the cracks between a few dramatic moments and musical numbers. In fact, "Funny Lady" at times plays like one of those vapid vehicles Hollywood sticks singers in just to cash in on his/her popularity, like "Burlesque," to cite a recent (and much worse) example. James Caan, as Rose, is good but he and Streisand never quite click, as if the stars were filmed in separate sound stages and spliced together in the editing room. Roddy McDowell flits at the periphery in the thankless role of Fanny's gay friend/assistant; Omar Sharif reprises his role as Nicky Arnstein in what's little more than an extended cameo, his character now a money grubbing cad; and Ben Vereen is in one musical number and quickly dismissed (the rest of his role landed on the cutting room floor).

I was also struck by how thrown-together the movie looked, with sets and costumes looking like castoffs from "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" (the "Great Day" musical number in particular could just as easily have been part of Cher's Vegas performances in the '70s). And how about that final scene, set more than a decade later, with Streisand in a horrible helmet of gray hair and Caan's hair and mustache sprayed white, yet neither star looking a day older than 35.

And yet Streisand can still enthrall. I loved her musical numbers, particularly her bitter rendition of "How Lucky Can You Get," the ballad "If I Love Again," and the "Don't Rain on My Parade"-wannabe, "Let's Hear it for Me." Barbra even has some good dramatic moments, particularly a somber scene where Fanny and Rose discuss their relationship after she's catches him in bed with the star of his aquatic revue, Eleanor Holm. "Funny Lady" is less a sequel to "Funny Girl" than a star vehicle. Luckily, Streisand has enough power to drive it, even though this star vehicle doesn't have much under the hood.