Way over-hyped, but enjoyable for what it is.

Rating: Null/10 (15 August 2012)

The film industry has its own way of going way overboard on occasion and this is a recent example. The movie won many awards, including five Oscars, one being Best Picture, and was nominated for five others. So with that hype and anticipation my wife and I saw it this week.
It is a very entertaining movie in many ways, and also mediocre in many ways. The novelty of making a silent film about the silent film industry of the late 1920s is novel, but the story itself is ordinary. It borrows heavily from ideas in the superb "Singing In The Rain", which also was about the transition from silent films to "talkies" and how those who resisted got left behind.
The movie is very well made, and the characters and dancing numbers evoked stars of old, like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Debbie Reynolds, and others. Jean Dujardin is the silent film star, George Valentin (Shades of Rudolph Valentino?). When "talkies" start to become popular he figures fans come to see him so he continues to make silent films.
Meanwhile Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller (shades of Ann Miller?), given her big break by Valentin, goes on to make "talkies" and soon becomes a star. With the fading popularity of silent film and the onset of the great depression, Valentin soon is bankrupt and no longer popular.
Miller eventually helps Valentin recover his dignity, and that becomes the running story. Good movie, but in my mind not as good as all the hype made it out to be.