Rated PG-13
(sexual content and smoking)
1 hour 50 minutes
Storyline:
Famous film director Guido Contini struggles to find harmony in his professional and personal lives, as he engages in dramatic relationships with his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother.
Starring:
Daniel Day Lewis
Marion Cotillard
Penelope Cruz
Nicole Kidman
Judi Dench
Kate Hudson
Sophia Loren
Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson
Critics Grade:
D
(Consensus: It has a game, great-looking cast, led by the always worthwhile Daniel Day-Lewis, but Rob Marshall's Nine is chaotic and curiously distant.)
My Grade:
D-
Let me run some numbers by you real quick. Between the 7 main cast members (excluding Fergie because she ha
sn't really been in films), there are a total of 18 Oscar nominations, 7 Oscar wins, 36 Golden Globe nominations, and 11 Golden Globe wins and let's throw in 2 honorary awards (1 Oscar and 1 Golden Globe). And hell let's not exclude Director Rob Marshall's 1 Oscar nomination and 1 Golden Globe nomination. Now one would think, "Man, that's a LOT of proven talent, there's no way this movie could be bad!". Well...this movie has now proven that no matter how many award caliber actors and filmmakers you put in one movie...you aren't always going to get a good flick. Because this movie was just plain awful in my stupid little opinion.
Talk about disappointing, this movie defines that word!! I was so very much looking forward to this film based off the really engaging theatrical trailer from earlier in the year. But this movie was far from engaging. It had no energy, and most musicals are full of pizazz and heart and have tons of energy. This film however, is damn near lifeless. There is no heart in it's story. It's empty and bland. Most of the characters are written so one dimensionally and are barely on screen long enough for us to even give half a crap about. Almost none of them are likable. The musical numbers had no emotion and the songs themselves for the most part were either incredibly inappropriate or just boring as hell.
We have a leading man, played rather quietly and dully by Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood, to which he was phenomenal in). This character, Guido, was a jerk who cheated on his wife with many women. He seemed never to truly care about that fact about him until the last act of the movie. He half attempts to seek redemption, but way to late in the story and it just seems to fall flat and he gives up. He's not a likable character, but Day Lewis could have at least given this guy some flair or personality to make us "love to hate him" so to speak. Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies, La Vie En Rose) was the only actor in this movie that delivered a good performance worthy of any Oscar attention. I believe she deserves a supporting actress nomination, because she was the only one who gave life to this movie. She was the one character you felt any connection to. The only performance to show heart and pain realistically. She was great, and I for one enjoyed her "My Husband Makes Movies" number.
The rest of this big name cast: Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, and Fergie are reduced to mere extended cameos. Cruz and Dench have slightly meatier roles but that means they are in like...3 or 4 scenes a piece. Hudson, Kidman and F
ergie basically just have one scene a piece where they have any relevance to the story. They kind of just pop up, sing a song, and then go away never to be seen again. Kidman's character (to which her brief cameo performance was very good) revealed some big story arch involving Daniel Day Lewis...but we never hear about it before this scene (which comes a good 3/4ths into the film!!). They just drop this big bombshell on us for a brief 4 minute scene, then bam...it's done for. So why should we even care?? I didn't. Cruz is getting a lot of award attention and I don't know why. Her musical number was messy and not good. Her brief appearances were slightly comical but not all that great. The only truly fun, entertaining musical number in the whole film was Fergies "Be Italian". You hear it in the previews for the movie. It was the only one that was choreographed like an actual musical scene, it actually belonged in a musical unlike the rest of them. Yeah, it was a bit dirty, but it was entertaining and blew up the screen. It was one of the very few scenes that I will remember. She did a great job with it.
So I don't know...this movie was just a giant mess. It didn't really go anywhere. I felt like the movie had no direction, no ultimate goal to reach. If this movie was given to us to entertain...it failed miserably. This is one of the least entertaining musicals ever, and one of the least entertaining and plain old worst movies I've seen this year. Sure it had some redeeming qualities: wonderful set designs and costuming. One really good musical number and or two slightly OK ones. Other than that though...this movie was just all over the place and I had no clue where it was going. And it didn't really go anywhere. It just left you hanging. It started empty, and ended even more empty. No soul, or heart to this crap. I didn't like it one bit. I really hope it doesn't get any Oscar nomination for best picture, that would be a travesty.
What I just can't grasp onto though is...with a cast as big as this, why is the show stopping number, the sequence that brought the house down, the one scene that featured the best song and best film making...centered around a person who does not act in films...Fergie? Really? I mean I'm happy for her...but really? Of this big Oscar caliber cast, the one person to show all of them up by 100 miles is a non-actress, member of the Black Eyed Peas? Pretty sad. Enough said.
If I learned one thing from this movie it is this....................be Italian.
sn't really been in films), there are a total of 18 Oscar nominations, 7 Oscar wins, 36 Golden Globe nominations, and 11 Golden Globe wins and let's throw in 2 honorary awards (1 Oscar and 1 Golden Globe). And hell let's not exclude Director Rob Marshall's 1 Oscar nomination and 1 Golden Globe nomination. Now one would think, "Man, that's a LOT of proven talent, there's no way this movie could be bad!". Well...this movie has now proven that no matter how many award caliber actors and filmmakers you put in one movie...you aren't always going to get a good flick. Because this movie was just plain awful in my stupid little opinion.Talk about disappointing, this movie defines that word!! I was so very much looking forward to this film based off the really engaging theatrical trailer from earlier in the year. But this movie was far from engaging. It had no energy, and most musicals are full of pizazz and heart and have tons of energy. This film however, is damn near lifeless. There is no heart in it's story. It's empty and bland. Most of the characters are written so one dimensionally and are barely on screen long enough for us to even give half a crap about. Almost none of them are likable. The musical numbers had no emotion and the songs themselves for the most part were either incredibly inappropriate or just boring as hell.
We have a leading man, played rather quietly and dully by Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood, to which he was phenomenal in). This character, Guido, was a jerk who cheated on his wife with many women. He seemed never to truly care about that fact about him until the last act of the movie. He half attempts to seek redemption, but way to late in the story and it just seems to fall flat and he gives up. He's not a likable character, but Day Lewis could have at least given this guy some flair or personality to make us "love to hate him" so to speak. Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies, La Vie En Rose) was the only actor in this movie that delivered a good performance worthy of any Oscar attention. I believe she deserves a supporting actress nomination, because she was the only one who gave life to this movie. She was the one character you felt any connection to. The only performance to show heart and pain realistically. She was great, and I for one enjoyed her "My Husband Makes Movies" number.
The rest of this big name cast: Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, and Fergie are reduced to mere extended cameos. Cruz and Dench have slightly meatier roles but that means they are in like...3 or 4 scenes a piece. Hudson, Kidman and F
ergie basically just have one scene a piece where they have any relevance to the story. They kind of just pop up, sing a song, and then go away never to be seen again. Kidman's character (to which her brief cameo performance was very good) revealed some big story arch involving Daniel Day Lewis...but we never hear about it before this scene (which comes a good 3/4ths into the film!!). They just drop this big bombshell on us for a brief 4 minute scene, then bam...it's done for. So why should we even care?? I didn't. Cruz is getting a lot of award attention and I don't know why. Her musical number was messy and not good. Her brief appearances were slightly comical but not all that great. The only truly fun, entertaining musical number in the whole film was Fergies "Be Italian". You hear it in the previews for the movie. It was the only one that was choreographed like an actual musical scene, it actually belonged in a musical unlike the rest of them. Yeah, it was a bit dirty, but it was entertaining and blew up the screen. It was one of the very few scenes that I will remember. She did a great job with it.So I don't know...this movie was just a giant mess. It didn't really go anywhere. I felt like the movie had no direction, no ultimate goal to reach. If this movie was given to us to entertain...it failed miserably. This is one of the least entertaining musicals ever, and one of the least entertaining and plain old worst movies I've seen this year. Sure it had some redeeming qualities: wonderful set designs and costuming. One really good musical number and or two slightly OK ones. Other than that though...this movie was just all over the place and I had no clue where it was going. And it didn't really go anywhere. It just left you hanging. It started empty, and ended even more empty. No soul, or heart to this crap. I didn't like it one bit. I really hope it doesn't get any Oscar nomination for best picture, that would be a travesty.
What I just can't grasp onto though is...with a cast as big as this, why is the show stopping number, the sequence that brought the house down, the one scene that featured the best song and best film making...centered around a person who does not act in films...Fergie? Really? I mean I'm happy for her...but really? Of this big Oscar caliber cast, the one person to show all of them up by 100 miles is a non-actress, member of the Black Eyed Peas? Pretty sad. Enough said.
If I learned one thing from this movie it is this....................be Italian.
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