Film Club Review – Singin’ in the Rain

Singin’ in the Rain

It’s not really fair for me to review this movie since I have a strong distaste of musicals. So be forewarned that most of this review is based on my personal preference and bias against musicals rather than my less subjective movie reviewer opinion.

Why don’t I like musicals? I just find them nonsensical in the way characters will suddenly break into song. It takes me out of the illusion. Also, I just don’t find sing and dance routines overly enjoyable. Apart from the music aspect, Singin’ in the Rain felt weird to me, almost like it was parodying itself. I felt like they were winking at the camera every two seconds.

Donald O’Conner’s character was a tad annoying while Gene Kelly was likable enough but very transparent.
Now, that’s not to say I deny their talent. It takes a gift to do what these guys are able to do, and believe me I recognize that. I’m just not the type of person they’re doing it for.

The bright spot in this movie was Jean Hagen as the movie actress with a terrible speaking voice. She was pretty hilarious thorough most of her scenes. One scene which I found particularly amusing was where they were trying out sound for the first time and were trying to figure out a microphone placement to work. That’s good stuff.

I understand how this movie stands out in the realm of movie musicals. Its kindhearted, tries to at least 50% of the time put in their dance numbers in places which make some semblance of sense, and has the infamous(and well-choreographed) singing in the rain scene. But it is still a musical, and when its not a musical its still pretty campy. But don’t take my word for it.
5/10