The Films of Stanely Donen

Royal Wedding

Love is Better than Ever

Fearless Fagen

Give a Girl a Break

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Deep in My Heart

Funny Face (November 18/12)

Funny Face casts Audrey Hepburn as Jo Stockton, a mousy bookshop clerk who's propelled to international stardom after she's discovered by a hotshot photographer (Fred Astaire's Dick Avery) - with the film subsequently detailing Jo's efforts at coping with her newfound fame and the inevitable relationship that ensues between Jo and Dick. For much of its first half, Funny Face comes off as a briskly-paced and highly energetic piece of work that boasts a number of lush, meticulously conceived and executed musical numbers - with the affable atmosphere heightened by the almost mesmerizingly charismatic work from both Astaire and Hepburn. It's only as the movie progresses into its increasingly erratic and meandering midsection that one's interest begins to flag, with the growing emphasis on tedious and flat-out pointless sequences (eg Jo's trip to a smoky club) wreaking havoc on the film's already-tenuous momentum. There's little doubt, too, that the complete lack of chemistry between Hepburn and Astaire's respective characters - he is, after all, old enough to be her father - compounds Funny Face's various problems (ie it's impossible to root for their inevitable coupling), which ultimately ensures that the relationship-heavy final stretch fares especially poorly and confirms the movie's place as a sporadically engaging yet hopelessly erratic old-school musical.

out of

Kiss Them for Me

Indiscreet

Once More, with Feeling!

Surprise Package

The Grass is Greener

Charade

Arabesque

Two for the Road

Bedazzled

Staircase

The Little Prince

Lucky Lady

Movie Movie

Saturn 3

Blame it on Rio

Love Letters