Terrific craft in service of a story I don't quite swallow

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2007)

This is an impressive film. The skill the filmmakers and virtually all of the performers put into the sprawling ensemble piece are all uniformly excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey of watching the film -- especially the top-notch staging of the musical numbers and the way they were woven into the narrative more or less seamlessly.
But half an hour after I left the theater, I didn't really care much about anyone. I had been properly and ably manipulated in the service of good entertainment -- but I hadn't truly been moved. I think the problem is two-fold:
The film and it's source material can't decide how much of a musical/operetta it wants to be. Are we supposed to buy the characters breaking into song off stage even though it doesn't start to happen until halfway through? It feels like hedging bets rather than a strong choice.
The second problem is that the characters are largely two-dimensional. The weakest link is the nemesis, the music producer. He has all the power in the story but you never know why. You can't admire his grit and acumen because it's never on display. And you can't condemn him as bad guy because he seems more a soulless cad than as someone with a truly tragic flaw. In other words, you don't really give a damn about him and you wonder why everyone else does.