Les Miserables

Tuesday 12th March 2013

Director: Matteo Garrone
Year: 2012
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baren Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit, Daniel Huttlestone

Well, what a disappointment this was. I had wanted to see Les Mis for ages, and as we were visiting Exeter, where the grandparents live, my other half and I took the opportunity to head off to the cinema whilst nana and grandad babysat (they had a nightmare afternoon, but that's another story and all the baby's fault).

Where do I start with the problems with this movie? Now, usually I love musicals, so don't believe for a second that I'm prejudiced against them. But here, I really did get sick of the singing. Can't they just, well, TALK some of the lines? Just a few? And what's with hiring lead actors that can't sing? Yes, Hugh Jackman (Valjean) and Russell Crowe (Javert), I mean you. The two lead actors were just well, annoying. Their endings were, quite frankly, deserved. And did this really have to be 3 hours long? The stage play can manage 2 to 2 and a half, why not the movie? And what's with the Cosette (Siegfried) character? Boy, is she annoying. And staging her surrounded by Disneyworld flowers and cottages does not help.

Having said that, there were some redeeming moments to the movie. A number of the female leads were brilliant singers - I'm thinking of Anne Hathaway (Fantine) and Samantha Barks (Eponine) in particular. And I also enjoyed the inn keeper scenes tremendously. If only the movie had just been about Thenardier (Baren Cohen) and Madam Thenardier (Bonham Carter), I would have been so much happier. Now there's a movie I would have loved!

Rating: 2 out of 5 (and those stars are almost all for the actresses mentioned above)