Time for yet another Oscar Film Journal entry here at Enuffa.com!
We're swingin' back to the 1960s for a look at Barbra Streisand's breakout performance, the one that won her an Oscar and made her a household name. It's the 1968 Best Pic nominee Funny Girl, directed by Academy favorite William Wyler, based on the Broadway play. Funny Girl is a very loose musical biopic about the rise of Vaudeville star Fanny Brice, a song and dance girl who made her fortune by leaning into her natural comic talents before marrying a rich gambler named Nicky Arnstein. But his addiction to the card table coupled with his predilection for bad business deals led to his downfall and the eventual dissolving of their marriage.
The film is at its best when showcasing Streisand's remarkable voice and comic delivery, and fortunately she's the main focus. But it falters somewhat in depicting Fanny and Nicky's romance and domestic troubles. Omar Sharif is serviceable as Arnstein but doesn't come close to matching Streisand's onscreen presence and magnetism. It's made clear that Fanny is stunned that such a dapper gentleman would take an interest in her, but once he lets her down a few times I found myself wondering why Fanny would've stuck around so long. Of course in real life Nicky was a consummate swindler and spent multiple stints in prison, during which Fanny did stick with him. The film omits most of his illegal activities and he only engages in a proper scam out of economic desperation, ultimately pleading guilty to his crime. In actuality Nicky was much less noble, but to keep the story palatable playwright Isobel Lennart did have to whitewash his character quite a bit. Still Fanny is such a wholesomely attractive, strongminded figure it felt incongruous that she'd fall for Nicky's wiles.
All this to say, I found the romance aspect of the film much less compelling than the sequences centered around Fanny's showbiz career. The early scenes where she makes herself stand out from the pretty Vaudeville girls by stumbling around on roller skates, or changes the delivery of her Ziegfeld Follies number about being the prettiest girl to be ironically funny rather than romantically sincere are some of the most effective moments. I'd have rather seen the focus be on Fanny's prodigious talents and career development than on stock romantic tropes involving such a sad sack loser. Fanny on her own is loads of fun to watch, Fanny fawning over Nicky is a bit of a drag.
But fortunately Streisand's iconic performance is enough to carry the film to a pretty easy recommendation. She is truly a beacon of charisma and her stunning vocal abilities seem effortless. As a character study the film works quite well, as a romance less so. Apparently the 1975 sequel Funny Lady is strictly to be avoided.
On balance I'll give Funny Girl ***1/2 out of ****.
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