Could Have Been Something...

Rating: 1/10 (11 April 2018)

There is a lot this movie could have been. It could have been a revealing commentary on acceptance of those outcast from society. It could have shown us how a society's obsession with the strange and different keeps us from seeing people's actual humanity and autonomy. It could have been a strong criticism of the desire to profit off of other's misfortunes. It also could have been something other than boring, mindless entertainment.
Yes, this is boring, mindless entertainment during which you could be gossiping on your phones without having to worry about missing anything at all. After all, once you've heard one song, you've pretty much heard all of them. And there's so many of them. To estimate, this movie is 75% (at least) contemporary pop anthems. I was often left wondering, as I sat through another awful song that I sometimes muted, why there was a story at all. Why not just turn it into a youtube music video playlist instead?
What little story there was in this movie is barely worth mentioning. I suppose it tried, emphasis on the word 'tried', to contain a moral about how you shouldn't ignore the people who matter a lot to you. But I was never convinced that the Barnum of the story (let alone the actual, historical Barnum!) ever cared about the members of his show to begin with. It was all about making money and elevating his own status in society. Any display of care towards his show people seemed fake and manipulative at best.
If you want mindless, boring entertainment that won't distract you from writing emails, making dinner, or doing doctoral level theoretical math while playing hopscotch, this movie could very well be for you. If, however, you want to pay attention to something, I recommend not paying attention to this. Sitting in an empty room with white walls might be more worthwhile.
(And really? You have a famous opera singer of the time singing a song that sounds like an awful, awful imitation of something by Adele? And the 19th century cultural elite of NYC just happens to jump up in applause to this?)