21st November 2009

Musicals, to me, make the best movies ever. Especially if they were made back in 'The Golden Age of Hollywood'. Funny Face (1957) was one of the Audrey Hepburn vehicles made by Paramount in the 1950's after her immense success in 'Roman Holiday'. Though Hepburn may not be the most quintessential musical star, she managed to handle her character well, even if she was falling in love with a 58 year old Fred Astaire. That's what bugged me about this film, was the considerable age-gap between Astaire and Hepburn. He was 58 and she was 28, and they were hardly the most believable couple. I know, that back in the day, age didn't matter, but it did for me in Funny Face. Astaire and Hepburn couldn't be more mismatched if they tried. It is one of those stories, where a girl , who doesn't care much for her appearance and has opinions on everything, Jo (Hepburn), meets a photographer for a glamourous fashion magazine, Dick Avery (Astaire). They fall in love, I honestly don't know how, and Jo becomes a fashion model, but doesn't forget her book-shop past. I would have loved this movie if Gene Kelly was cast instead of Fred Astaire. I'm not dissing Fred Astaire, because I think he was a very talented human being, but Gene Kelly would have been more suited to Audrey Hepburn. The film was all about Audrey Hepburn's funny sort of beauty, and love, of course. The songs weren't that inspiring, and the dance routines felt out of place, that half way through them, I forgot what they were actually singing and dancing about. It just didn't feel unique.
6/10