Shirley MacLaine is 'Charity Hope Valentine', a dance hall rental-girl with romantic dreams in this film version of the Broadway play directed by Bob Fosse. There are a couple of show-stopping tunes in the first half ("Hey, Big Spender", "If My Friends Could See Me Now") and an excellent, if weird, dance number ("Rich Man's Frug"), but after Charity meets potential 'Mr. Right' Oscar Lindquist (John McMartin), the story starts to drag, especially during the endless "I'm a Brass Band" number, which features gimmicky dance-marching to a tedious song with silly lyrics. The film is badly dated in places (especially the 'hippie' scenes) and most of the shots of Charity jubilantly running around New York look like the openings of 1970's sitcoms about 'empowered women'. MacLaine is fine, as is Broadway stalwart Stubby Kaye ("I Love to Cry at Weddings" is the only good song in the second half), but McMartin is as bland as his character supposed to be. Fosse's choreography is excellent but the gimmicky freeze frames, slo-mo, jump-cuts, reverse shots, etc. do nothing to enhance the film and many scenes just run on too long. Worth watching if only for the highlights and MacLaine's infectious bubbliness but far from the standards of the great 1960's Hollywood musicals. The story about the alternate 'happy' ending (included in some packages and available on-line) is interesting.
Review of Sweet Charity
