This filmed version of the 1927 George Gershwin Broadway musical Funny Face utilizes the play's original star, Fred Astaire, and several of the original tunes, then goes merrily off on its own. Astaire is cast as as fashion photographer Dick Avery (a character based on Richard Avedon, the film's "visual consultant"), who is sent out by his female boss Maggie Prescott (Kay Thompson) to find a "new face". It doesn't take Dick long to discover Jo (Audrey Hepburn, who does her own singing), an
owlish Greenwich Village bookstore clerk. Acting as Pygmalion to Jo's Galatea, Dick whisks the wide-eyed girl off to Paris and transforms her into the fashion world's hottest model. Along the way, he falls in love with Jo, and works overtime to wean her away from such phony-baloney intellectuals as Professor Emile Flostre (Michel Auclair). The Gershwin tunes include the title song, "S'wonderful", "How Long Has This Been Going On" and "He Loves and She Loves"; among the newer numbers is Kay Thompson's energetic opener "Think Pink". For years available only in washed-out, flat prints, Funny Face was eventually restored to its full Technicolor and VistaVision glory. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
...can clunk like a tin can in the dryer. But hey, we're talking Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, so that's some mighty elegant slack we're willing to cut here.
Despite some memorable musical numbers, gorgeous sets and energy galore, there's something about Funny Face that wasn't working for me, and it wasn't just the absurd idea about Audrey Hepburn being a frumpy bore.
Is it any wonder that the combination of Astaire, Hepburn, Donen, the Gershwins, and Paris achieved success in Funny Face? (Two-Disc Centennial Collection)
One of Stanley Donen's most stylish and enjoyable films, this musical is a triumph for Astaire's spectacular dancing, Audrey Hepburn's elegant appearance, and the Gershwins splendid score.
I love Audrey Hepburn. I like Fred Astaire. I like director Stanley Donen. I love musicals. I hate "Funny Face." Watching "Funny Face" was like overdosing on sugar. You might be like, 'Steven? How can you hate "Funny Face" and like something like "High School Musical?"' Well, my answer is easy. With a movie like "High
School Musical" the songs are helping tell the story and let you connect to the narrative and the characters. (Um, like ANY good musical) The songs in "Funny Face" have so little to do with the overall arc that when they happen (and they happen about every 5 minutes) the entire film has to stop. "Funny Face" seems like it runs 3 hours. Sure, Hepburn and Astaire are likable, like always, but they are really sticking to their wheelhouse here. There is nothing new and everything else is so schmaltzy that it renders the entire thing pat. "Funny Face" is just too silly, too tiresome and too meandering for me to actually enjoy.
March 28, 2011
Steven Carrier
Super Reviewer
Audrey Hepburn can't sing for crap (dubbed) but that beatnik dance scene stays with you forever, and the chemistry between her and Astaire makes this a classic.
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