Product: Funny Girl [VHS] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
BARBRA'S BEST
You do not have to be a Barbra Streisand fan to love this movie -- nobody was when it appeared in 1968, since no one knew who she was back then. But just try to resist the galvanizing performance she gives in this movie, for which she won an Oscar. This movie features a dazzling array of spectacular musical numbers, all belted out with brilliant gusto by Streisand. The sets, costumes and true story come together in a captivating romance that still catches in your throat. Omar Sharif looks impossibly dashing as Nicky Arnstein, and the many moments between Streisand and Sharif sparkle with real chemistry, missing from so many movies nowadays. And Streisand, whose performance is fresh and without her later mannerisms firmly in place, generates a surprising sensuality with every breath she takes, every note she sings. Given that this movie takes place in a world already long gone, it never feels dated -- more like a perfectly realized time capsule of time and place. For my money, Barbra's PEOPLE, sung on that lovely street corner, remains one of the most alluring and thrilling moments in musical movies.