Epic freaking musical about a singing comedienne wedging her way into her big break. The beginning is a bit slow, and I tired of Fanny's repetitive self-deprecation about her lack of traditional beauty, but Barbra Streisand is sassy and ballsy, and my word, is Omar Sharif not the most dashing and earnest paramour? He says "I love you" so shyly yet tenderly! Nicky's love and admiration are so soaring, and that's what makes the main relationship conflict of Fanny outgrowing Nicky and the show-stopping number "My Man" all the more tragic in a mere mortals sort of way.

I was surprised at how relevant this story still is - take a look in the news lately and see how many columnists are talking about our changing work world, the one in which "feminine" skills are much more in demand and as a result, men have begun to feel insecure and less confident when they aren't the provider they've been socialized to be. Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif) turns increasingly to gambling in his attempt to keep up with his love (Barbra Streisand)'s success. I found his story to be almost the more interesting, intermittently updated though it was. Before seeing this, I wrote it off as something old-timey for Broadway fans that plays all too well in the Borscht Belt, but it's not without its charms. A cliched story of a rise to fame, sure, and full of music that I don't really like, and a bit on the long side - there's a serious lull late in the second hour - but you shouldn't ignore the fact that William Wyler helmed this film. It's well-shot and funny and inspiring, on the whole, and a justifiable classic that's worth seeing once.