Film Review: The Greatest Showman

If you’ve been going to the movies lately, you’ve probably heard about “The Greatest Showman”, the flashy family movie movie jam-packed with celebrities. Before we get into the heart of this review, I just want to make it clear that I get why this is a popular movie. It’s very much a people-pleaser, and I completely understand why so many people love it. If you like this movie, great! If you want to see this movie, by all means, go see it!

That said, I will rip this movie to shreds.

So on that note, let’s get into all the problems with this film!

1. Historically Inaccurate

Even if you are a fan of this movie, facts are facts. In the movie, P.T. Barnum is played by Hugh Jackman, the classic good-guy, and he portrays Barnum as a hero and savior of the “outcasts”. Jackman/Barnum was kind, caring, and passionate, and he viewed everyone as equal. Unfortunately, that’s just not the truth.

The real P.T. Barnum was actually a pretty big jerk and incredibly problematic. He was a slave owner and thought that African Americans were the “inferior” race. He also exploited “savages”, often using people in costumes to portray Native Americans. Barnum has a dark history, known for encouraging racial stereotypes.

And for the life of me, I truly can’t comprehend – why did the movie refrain from going into any of these issues at all? This movie took wild creative liberties that only ended up making the movie incredibly shallow. Hugh Jackman is also a talented actor who’s taken his acting to dark places before. To watch him take on the character of this complicated man with a dark past – he would have nailed it.

Instead, the movie shoves cliches and cheesy tunes down our throats, entirely ignoring the true story. If you want a flashy circus movie – just make one up! Make it fictional! I don’t know why they had to make it a “true” story if they weren’t going to stick to the truth.

This is also a period piece set in the 1850s and 1860s. No outright mention of race? At all? No mention of the Civil War? At all? Come on, people.

2. No plot

One of the major problems with this movie was that they didn’t really have any sort of plot. Every few scenes, the direction of the film totally changed.

Here’s what frustrated me – the movie was pulled in a million different directions. They skimmed the surface on a ton of ideas. It subtly hinted at racism, social inequality, struggling family dynamics – and then right when it could’ve gotten real, it jumped into a peppy, pointless song. What?

I wanted to see that rawness. Instead, the movie took the safe, shallow route, which was honestly unfortunate. This movie could have been so incredibly real – instead, it was plastic. They should’ve just made the movie historically accurate – maybe then, I would actually care about anything going on.

3. No risks

Like I said earlier, this movie is a people-pleaser. Every single element was made with the thought process of – Will the public like this?

For example, the music. The songs are undoubtedly catchy. But honestly, every single song is a just a reflection of the most popular pop music. And unlike other amazing musicals in recent history (shoutout to “La La Land”) the score added nothing to the movie – except to distract us from the fact that there was nothing important happening.

As for the visual effects and cinematography, they weren’t unique or interesting at all. Very basic – no risks were taken. None! Do one cool thing with the camera, for God’s sake, before I roll my eyes for the seventh time.

When you make a movie, if your goal is to please everyone, you’ve already failed. And even from the first ten minutes of the movie, it was so blindingly obvious this movie failed.

Honestly – this may be harsh (but so is the rest of this review) – this movie is so patronizing to the audience. I felt like I was being talked down to the entire time. Really, the movie treated the viewers like idiots. I enjoy movies that challenge me and that I can learn from – intellectually, or morally, or in any kind of sense – but this was so sticky sweet and shallow, I wanted to throw up. Okay, that was harsh.

Here’s something positive about the movie:

The acting

So the acting was pretty decent. It has a great cast – Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, and Zendaya, among others. Unfortunately, the actors didn’t have room to excel, as they were locked into a flat script and underdeveloped characters. That said, they worked with what they could.

Overall thoughts

So, if you couldn’t already tell – no, I did not enjoy this movie. I think it could’ve been so much more, and it’s disappointing that it fell so, so short.

The message of the movie was positive. But I don’t go to the theater to have some cliche quote shoved down my throat – “Be yourself!” that I could just read off a bookmark.

So, that about wraps up this review. (Rant?) Again, if you loved this movie – I’m sorry for trashing it! You’re free to love whatever movie you want to love. And I do understand why people like it. But yeah, that’s a no from me.