Absolutely Fantastic

A Masterpiece!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Blistering performances.

I'm not going to bash this film and I'm not going to bash Matthew Broderick (not too much). This movie just doesn't have much of a spark. What there is comes from original script and the Meredith Wilson music. Broderick does a so so job of delivering things. For some reason, he seems to have caught the eye of Broadway producers who could have their pick of thousands of really competent people. I thought the musical version of "The Producers" was good, except for the flat, dull performance of Broderick. Anyway, it's absurd to criticize youth and inexperience here because the original actors were every bit as young (or nearly so). It's the production numbers that suffer. Comparing the "Marion the Librarian" from the Preston version to this one isn't even fair. There's also a gentleness to the original. The updating really diminishes things. This is a musical of a time and somehow that time has been stolen from this version. It poked fun at the great state of Iowa and small-town America. Somehow it falls flat in that respect.

This is one of the few movies where the remake is at least as good as, if not better than,the original. The dancing is just superb especially the library number. Matthew Broderick does a very good job as the professor. He is a very good dancer. Kristin Chenoweth has a wonderful voice. The new ending really was a delight because it tied the story together more than the original ending. If I had any complaints it is that the mayor is miscast. I see the mayor as a sort of clown. Victor Garber is not really believable as a clownish character. He is too polished to play a clown. This is a movie that I would see over and over again.

Here this - I am by NO MEANS married to the original, and Preston typically gives me a sick headache. So, let's forget the original (mostly - see below). Let's just take this as is. Which is a clinker, and which clinks really badly because of some of the most amazingly bad casting ever. Broderick. If the idea is to hope that boyish charm will carry him as one of the slickest salesmen in theater/movie history...where is it? The boyish thing is still there but it's inert. Hill is above all a salesman; Broderick plays him like a PC repairman, usually confused and never remotely charismatic, and his broad musical moments have an embarrassed feel to them. At least Preston knew that pure, focused energy was key here, for God's sake. Then, Chinoweth has a voice but, sadly, not the face of the innocent Marion, and not even the right voice. I realize that Marion is not a young girl, but Chinoweth's hard lines reveal a woman too old. Then there's the voice. Yeesh. If any soprano must be creamy, it is Marion, but Chinoweth hits the high notes like a tight siren. Even Victor Garber, brilliant musical man that he is, is utterly miscast as the mayor. He quite simply exudes too much intelligence to play such a fool. On the plus side, the direction flows in a novel way. This would've been a swell and lively production, if only someone had thought to get the right performers.

I was born in Gary and always thought this musical was a bit archaic. And now I read some of your comments. What are you all? About a hundred? Matthew Broderick is phenomenal. He practically makes this musical worthy of going down in history!!!! It's a beautiful cast, well choreographed numbers as well as great sets, costumes etc. I love Shirley Jones and Robert Preston, particularly in "Victor Victoria," However, their version is a cartoony 50's formula musical, which is fine. Think: Joe E. Brown does Al Jolson's "Jazz Singer!!!!" Boy are times a changin!!!! Give Broderick another chance!! He's reminiscent of the golden age of Hollywood for me in this day and age; up there with Johnny Depp and a very few others. His version is also cartoony, but much more appealing due to the underlying depth of his character however subtle compared to the one dimensional portrayal by Preston. Check this version out!!!!