The Greatest Showman

At a point in The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum tells a grumpy reviewer that his show could give “joy to the most joyless of critics”. Nice try, mate.

The Partially Educated Review

When it comes to pure Hollywood actors working today, I struggle to think of one with more versatility than Hugh Jackman. Whatever film you put him in, he will always give it his all and usually pulls it off. He blew me away with Logan (a performance so grizzled it made the bear from The Revenant look like Winnie the Pooh) but, some 9 months later, he's back into musical territory with the “true” story of circus mastermind P.T. Barnum. It's a performance filled with so much twinkling teeth he may as well be John Barrowman's bastard offspring, but he remains an asset that The Greatest Showman greatly benefits from. Even if he's just as infected by all the glitz.

There isn't an element of the film that doesn't feel rampantly stage-managed. Even the most destitute of scenes feels like it's populated by perfectly placed bits of dirt. As a stage production, The Greatest Showman would probably succeed to a fantastic degree and make an absolute killing and I think they know that. It's not that it doesn't feel cinematic or suffer from a lack of belonging in cinemas, but at times you do get the impression that its heart and desire lies in a different type of venue.

The positives are there though. It's not just Jackman's performance that wins over. Zendaya, in particular, feels like a talent to watch. Her role in Spider-Man: Homecoming was one I would have happily seen more of and I look forward to seeing how her career develops. Rebecca Ferguson oozes seductive charm and Michelle Williams is always watchable (if a little saddled with the “wife” role). Zac Efron is perhaps a little boring, but he's spent the last few years knowing that simply stepping into the room will cause a certain area of the demographic to instantly swoon and its made him a lot more successful than I am so fair play to him. Most of Barnum's acts also suffer from a lack of true character development, generally there to back-up the songs. Keala Settle's bearded lady role gets a fairer scoop than most, but she's only a couple of jazz hands away from making Chicago seem like The Driller Killer by comparison.

This is, of course, a musical, so it stands to rights that I mention the songs and, come on, you must know what you're letting yourself in for. If your musical pleasures are derived from the likes of Slayer, it's safe to say this probably won't be your scene. If, however, the idea of Steps going on tour gets you excited, then know that you're part of the problem... you'll probably like these songs though. They're well put together and they're catchy as hell. For me though, when 2 hours had passed after I'd seen the film and This Is Me was still going round my head on a constant loop, I couldn't help but start Googling lobotomy clinics.

The Greatest Showman is a film for a very specific audience. That audience will lap this up (looking at Twitter, they aren't hard to find) and people of different tastes may find it fairly interminable. For a first-time director Michael Gracey demonstrates skill behind the camera, but he could probably do with removing one of the glossy strings from his bow in future. As such, any references to the shadier side of Barnum are fleeting at best and if you think they'll touch on his profiteering from blackface minstrelsy or that whole business with animal captivity, you're kidding yourself. There's a dirtier film to be made about the man (one that I'd probably enjoy more), but I'd be lying if I said I disliked this.

SIX out of 10