Rocky start but recovers; Streep and Baranski are great.

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2008)

Okay. It's not the 1936 Show Boat, it's not Footlight Parade, it's not Yankee Doodle Dandy, it's not Stormy Weather, it's not Carmen Jones, it's not Oklahoma, it's not West Side Story, it's not Zorba the Greek, it's not Oliver!, it's not Grease, it's not Chicago, it's not Idlewild - all great Hollywood movie musicals - but after a rocky start, with a story that at first seems hokey to the extreme and brings the movie to the brink of cinematic oblivion, it recovers to become a good, if not great, movie. How does that happen? Almost miraculously, Meryl Streep's performance, which at first is incredibly stale and flat, undergoes a remarkable transformation and becomes great! It is as if someone interceded with her in the middle of the movie, injected her with a large dose of spirit, got her to turn around her performance and saved the movie from taking a cinematic dive. Along with Christine Baranski, Ms. Streep sings, dances, laughs, romps with gusto, and carries the movie. She becomes the star and makes this movie a Meryl Streep vehicle where she gives one of her stronger performances which transcends the corny story, improbable setting, and an ensemble of male actors who are almost laughingly miscast (Pierce Brosnan in a musical? C'mon! This is a movie that needed Anthony Quinn, Howard Keel and Rosanno Brazzi). After struggling to establish itself, the movie becomes an entertaining cinematic experience with catchy songs, snappy dancing, and dynamic performances by the female leads, led by the great, fabulous, beautiful and talented Meryl Streep.
This movie is proof that making a good musical is a daunting task and one best not done if it's not done right. Just like Les Grossman interceding with the director in Tropic Thunder, someone in the front office of this movie must have pulled the director aside and told her "Look, turn this movie around or this production is history!" Otherwise, how did this movie make such a dramatic recovery?
The first section of this movie is so bad that it causes one to wonder: why me? The mushy, wishy-washy dialog, the contrived conflicts, the unimpressive Greek scenery (why not set this movie in Long Island?), and dumb characters makes this movie a classic in how not to begin a movie. But a movie can survive a bad start just as long as it has a strong finish, and this movie finishes strong.