I recently saw yet another remake of this story recently, and I waited until I saw this one before I wrote my blog on the Gaga one. This one was not good. It is rated as the worst of the 4 remakes, and it's the story's fault. Each of the films has its own ending, its own emphasis, its own music...... this should be better than it is because of Barbra Streisand. She's actually the best actress of the 4, probably, but the dialogue is so lame and the story is so disjointed, it's hard to like the film, and it is extremely difficult to like Kris Kristofferson. In this one, he has a one-night stand with another girl, and that doesn't make him endearing to audience at all! And when he sings, he sounds like he is croaking....he has very little charisma and depends all on his looks, with his shirts usually open to his waist. He does goofy, exaggerated things in the film and Barbra tries to make it look natural, but she has trouble with that, so the scenes fall flat (like mud fighting). She does a slam bang job of her monologue song at the end where she first sings of her grief (to a tune that she wrote, and he wrote the lyrics to) and then moves into his songs and uses them to let him know she will be okay. Now, if you compare it to the recent one, I feel Bradley Cooper does a slam bang job of getting this alcoholic across better --- he's a better actor, a better singer, has more charisma and his character sacrifices himself because he loves her so much. The story hung better together, but I'll talk about that in the next blog. This one I would give 2.8 out of 5 stars --- it's for the Barbra Streisand concert that we had the opportunity to experience if we watch this film --- the rest is not good. P.S. "Evergreen" is almost worth sitting through the whole film again ---- almost!
- Overview
- Details
- Cast
This Academy Award-winning remake of a heartbreaking 1954 musical features Barbra Streisand in the role immortalized by Judy Garland. Esther Hoffman (Streisand) is on the brink of stardom, thanks to her monumental singing talent and her nurturing mentor, John Norman Howard (Kris Kristofferson), a veteran rocker who's also her lover. Unfortunately, his once-bright luster is on the wane, and her rise bristles against his impending decline.
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