9 was the lucky number for movies in 2009. There were the stop-motion animated films $9.99 and 9 as well as the sci-fi flick District 9. Now to close out the year, there’s Nine, a star-studded musical from the director of Chicago, Rob Marshall. Nine is the movie version of the hit Broadway musical which itself was based on Federico Fellini’s self-reflexive and most personal film 8 ½. Marshall’s Nine lacks any and all of Fellini’s complexities and is simply an empty exercise in style.
Marcello Mastroianni essentially played Fellini in 8 ½, a renowned director who struggles to complete his next film. In the original 1982 Broadway production, Raul Julia took on the role which was inherited to Antonio Banderas in the revival. Javier Bardem was originally cast until he dropped out and was replaced by out of left field choice Daniel Day-Lewis. Critics have been polarized over the casting of the British Oscar winning, debating whether or not he makes a convincing Italian. I say he did fine and he has a damn good singing voice, but his talents are largely unutilized. Day-Lewis doesn’t do much more than look sullen as movie director Guido Contini.
Following a string of flops, Contini’s next film is ready to go into production, but the “maestro” hasn’t written a single page of the script. Along with his creative funk, Contini deals with a web of romantic entanglements. There’s his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard looking like Audrey Hepburn), his sultry mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz), his leading lady Claudia Jenssen (Nicole Kidman in full Anita Ekberg mode), and an American reporter (Kate Hudson). The bevy of beauties also includes Sophia Loren as his mother, the Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie as an Earthy prostitute from Contini’s childhood, and Judi Dench as Lili, Contini’s costume designer and confidant.
As with Chicago, Marshall weaves the song and dance numbers into the narrative as fantasy sequences. These are big showy productions with the film’s lovely starlets bumping and grinding in skimpy outfits. There’s plenty of gorgeous scenery to be had, but the plot is aimless. Worst yet, the whole reason to see a musical, the music, is largely forgettable. Out of the many numbers in Nine, not a single one stuck in my mind or had me humming it as I left the theater. I will say that I didn’t expect Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson or Penelope Cruz to have such good singing voices. Marion Cotillard, who already showed off her pipes as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, gives the strongest performance in the film, both acting and singing-wise. She has a soulfulness to her that’s sorely needed even when she’s belting bland tunes like, "My Husband Makes Movies."
As a red-blooded male, I can’t say as I didn’t enjoy seeing Kate Hudson shaking her hips or Penelope Cruz writhing around in lingerie.
Rating: **
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