When I saw that daddym http://www.epinions.com/user-daddym was having a Write Off that pertained to Michael Douglas I was thrilled. As you can probably see by reading my review on War of the Roses http://www.epinions.com/content_152794402436 I am a big fan and admirer of Michael Douglas’s work. I could probably write plenty of reviews on his movies and probably most all of them would be reviews glowing with praise for his performances. At first I thought about doing a review on Basic Instinct, or Fatal Attraction, or Romancing the Stone and perhaps I will; but I thought it would be interesting to do a review on a movie that most people don’t really associate with Michael Douglas, in fact I nearly forgot that he was in the movie until I pulled up a search on his movies. The movie I am referring to is A Chorus Line.

A Chorus Line

Michael Douglas plays a director for an upcoming stage musical. Douglas whose character name is Zach is looking for dancers to dance in the chorus of the upcoming musical. In the opening scenes of the movie you see the grueling auditions as the dancers are quickly taught a routine, broken into groups and asked to perform. The dancers are judged and many are sent away leaving a select group of dancers.

When the group of dancers is whittled down to reasonable number the dancers are told by Zack that he will be sending half of them home. He would like to get to know the dancers on a more personal level and he tells them he wants to see their personalities come out in the rest of the audition. He wants to know what made them want to be a dancer.

Just as the final auditions begin Zach’s old girl friend Cassie (Alyson Reed) who once was a head line dancer comes in to the audition. Zach thinks she is there to see him, but she is there to audition. It turns out that the once highly sought after dancer has been unable to find work for over a year. Zach does not want her to try out for the chorus because she is too good of a dancer to take a chorus part. She tells him in a song and dance number, that she is a dancer it doesn’t matter where she dances she needs to dance. The song entitled “Let Me Dance For You.” Is probably one of the best songs in the film and we are treated to a very good dance number and some history through flash backs of Cassie and Zach back when they were together.

Besides the very limited sub plot of Zach and Cassie most of the movie is about the dancers and their auditions. Most of the dancers sing a song about what made them want to become a dancer and that is how you learn about most of the characters. Some of the songs are silly or funny and some are serious. But you can assure that there is a lot of dancing throughout. There is some very good singing and some not so great singing but it all makes for an entertaining movie.

Most of the people in the film besides Douglas and Reed are little known actors and actresses. Pretty much the only ones I recognized when I first saw the film were Janet Jones (who is married to Wayne Gretsky) and one of the Landers sisters (Audry), who of course sings the song, “Dance 10, Looks 3” which is a song about why she got her breasts enhanced and butt tightened surgically, mostly the song is about Boobs and Butts but she uses more crude wording in the song.

Probably my favorite song in the movie and the most fun and interesting dance number was the First Time actually I am not sure if that is the correct title but basically is a song about the first time one of the characters made love. The song is very catchy and dancing is very well executed.

The two most well known songs in the movie are One and What I did for Love

My Thoughts

Let me just start out by saying if you hate musicals don’t even bother. This movie is mostly musical and there is singing and dancing or singing or dancing going on through out the entire film so if you don’t like this kind of thing don’t watch this movie.

The movie over all is very entertaining and some of the actors do a great job. There are some performances that are lacking, more in the acting department than the dancing. But since the focus is never really on one character more than the length of a song the movie changes pace quite often. Obviously the mood and the flow of the film change quite a bit through out the film as well.

For the most part the dancing is very good. Some of the singing is lacking but the dancing over all is entertaining. The movie could have been a bit better but I have to say that I enjoyed it over all, but there are obviously some parts that are much better than others. The movie is a good demonstration of the audition process and you get to see what dancers actually have to go through in order to get work. The process is grueling and difficult and for most of the people that come to the auditions humbling and disappointing. This movie shows that very well.

I have seen this musical on stage as well. I did see the movie first. There was some variation but over all the movie follows along fairly well. Obviously it was more interesting to see it live and of course it was more entertaining that way but you get a little better perspective when you see the movie.

Since this a Michael Douglas write off I have to make at least a comment about his performance in the movie. He was a strong performer in this movie as he always is but more of the focus was on the dancers his part was critical to the plot but much of the focus was not really on him it was on the dancers but the way he worked with them had an interesting dynamic.

So over all I would say the movie is entertaining though not perfect. It is very interesting at times and lags at others. If you like musicals you are sure to find at least some of the songs entertaining.

Thank you to daddym for sponsoring this write off about one of my favorite actors, to read his write off entry or to get information on joining the 7 Degrees of Michael Douglas write off go to: http://www.epinions.com/content_173810617988



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12