A sharp and delightful film

Rating: 9/10 (11 May 2011)

Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's Singin' in the Rain(1952) is very nearly flawless. Great performances from Kelly, Reynolds and O'Connor entertain and impress throughout. The pacing of the film is absolutely spot on with jokes, emotional moments, entertaining musical numbers, impressive achievements in dance that all combine to create perhaps the greatest "feel-good" film ever made. I hate to focus on the negative as there are so many positives but I feel that the only thing keeping it from being a perfect film was the extended sequence of the musical within the musical with the "Gotta Dance" routine. The interactions between Kelly, Reynolds and O'Connor absolutely made the picture and as Kelly goes off on his own the film loses it's plot and it's heart. As an audience member I had fallen in love with Reynolds' and O'Connor's characters and being without them for such a lengthy period just felt wrong. Despite the departure, the film stands as one of the most enjoyable and entertaining works of all-time, I'll just have fast forward through that sequence in the future.