Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Does the greatest showman

63 replies

StealthPolarBear · 19/09/2018 22:11

Irritate the hell out of anyone else? I have never seen it, but the songs, the pictures and the nafne make me think it will make my toes curl. Is it as cheesy and awful as it looks?

OP posts:
MorningsEleven · 20/09/2018 09:19

It's got Zac and Hugh in it together being fucking gorgeous. That's all I need from a film.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 20/09/2018 09:24

Oh yes I'm not down on it because of my superior historical knowledge!
I think it's the "this is me" song I really hate. Just seems to sum up the total self obsession that is about at the moment.

OP posts:
RitaFairclough · 20/09/2018 09:24

I love it too but also bothered by the kids not ageing, by Michelle Williams being so much younger than Hugh, and by the bearded lady having smooth, hair-free armpits. I mean, it’s all very well being “this is me” but if you can shave those ...

VeryBerrySeptember · 20/09/2018 09:46

Yes This Is Me! does sum up the zeitgeist.

I loved A Million Dreams. (It's a bit more about building something for the greater good!)

Buscake · 20/09/2018 09:51

I expected to hate it (can’t stand musicals) but I love it. I think the songs are great, the story is compelling (even if historically inaccurate) My husband has bipolar disorder and I could really relate to so much of what happens. When his wife asks him “are you happy?” And he says “I will be when xyzabc” it spoke volumes. I love the fact it ends with him focusing on values not goals.

TheDowagerCuntess · 20/09/2018 10:32

Hmm, to be fair, This is Me isn't about preening, selfie-obsessed millenial types.

It's about the disenfranchised, those on the periphery, outcasts, misfits and rejects coming out of the shadows, etc.

I think it's a nice enough message for kids - which is probably why it's so popular.

I thought it was an enjoyable enough cinematic romp, but I can't believe the job they're done on Barnham (or whatever his name is) - just wow. Talk about a white wash.

BigStripeyBastard · 20/09/2018 10:42

It's got Hugh Jackman in it and I could watch that man in anything.... and I have sat through Kate & Leopold, The Fountain and that one about the boxing robot which are all complete showers of shite so I am completely confident Hugh makes everything more tolerable.

liquidrevolution · 20/09/2018 10:48

I like it but Hughs character is annoying. I also like the really honest trailer for it which highlights the real barnham more. To be honest I always watch the honest trailers when I go and see a film.

Bloobs · 20/09/2018 11:06

I love this thread! :o DD begged me to get it as all her friends were talking about it. She adored it. I thought "WHAT is this pile of shite???" It's so unbelievably trite, sketchy and unconvincing. The characters are barely there. The story is trashy, predictable and unsatisfying. Everything about it just seems badly written, badly acted, badly edited and just lacking depth and meaning.

Which is saying something considering it has some great stars and the story could have been really powerful. It's deeply problematic that the "outsider"/disabled or albino or whatever people have to make their living as freakshow spectacles and they just gloss that over. "This is me" and "I'm who I'm meant to be" is completely hollow as a message when they don't have much of a choice, they don't get to be a teacher, doctor, posh society lady or whatever else they might dream of.

Having said that, some of the songs are good in themselves, in an ultra-cheesy way - very catchy and would all smash Eurovision. Me and DD are always singing them around the house, drama queen style :o

CutesyUserName · 20/09/2018 11:09

Boring, cheesy, predictable, formulaic shite. Couldn't wait for it to end. I know I'm in the minority, but yawn.

EssentialHummus · 20/09/2018 11:25

I love the soundtrack; film, not so much.

MeAgainSparkle · 20/09/2018 12:42

The best film I've seen in ages was Spotlight which I saw on TV recently. It was about journalists uncovering child abuse in the Boston Catholic church: compelling but not an uplifting watch.

Brilliant film. It's on Netflix

MsOliphant · 20/09/2018 13:01

Awful pile of shite.

I always wondered what happened in the years before he married Michelle William's character. Why did he make her wait until she was 37 to get married and have children Confused and it's a horrible message to 'collect' freaks. And the racial prejudice the woman trapeze artist was apparently subjected to...but they used quite a light skinned actress to play her Hmm

I temped in an office (thankfully briefly) where I was subjected to the soundtrack every single day, at least 5x.

It was in a TV company. The blokes would roll about on their office chairs , arms spread wide, yelling 'THIS IS ME!'

I nearly committed mass murder.

NKFell · 20/09/2018 13:06

I think it’s absolute shite Grin

I've seen it soooo many times now thanks to the DC loving it. It isn’t growing on me, I still can’t stand it but I do know all of the words to every single fecking song Envy

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 20/09/2018 13:07

Yes it could be worse, I could work there :) I havebt been convinced by this thread that I need to watch it

OP posts:
AnnPerkins · 20/09/2018 13:10

DS wanted to watch it. DH and I were exchanging Hmm looks in the first ten minutes.

None of us made it to the end.

Loved Spotlight. That's just my kind of film.

Kewqueue · 20/09/2018 13:10

When it first came out I loved the songs and the visual aspect of it all (the plot of the film is dire though).
This. It's like they got so caught up in making it look and sound lovely that they forgot to write a story.

PuppyMonkey · 20/09/2018 13:17

We saw it right back at the beginning of January when there hadn't been much said about it online or in the paper, but DP had seen the trailer and thought it looked good. And I was totally surprised by how much I bloody loved it.

The kids were just spellbound by all the songs for ages, playing them none stop. We had to go and see it again within a few weeks and I STILL loved it.

Saw it a third and a fourth time when we got the DVD, was expecting it would start to grate on my nerves by now - but no. STILL bloody loved it.

I feel the time is now right to finally admit it once and for all. MY NAME IS PUPPYMONKEY AND I BLOODY LOVE THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.

  • goes off to put it on again. Wink
Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 20/09/2018 13:30

It's not clear puppy, do you like it or not? :o

OP posts:
PuppyMonkey · 20/09/2018 13:32

S'ok I suppose. Grin

OvO · 20/09/2018 13:36

I like it! Loves me a musical. If only people burst into song and dance in real life.

The story is lightweight but sometimes that's what I'm on the mood for. The songs are ace and the men are pretty.

Bloobs · 20/09/2018 13:37

Actually I'm glad I've seen it, I did wonder what all the fuss was about. And it's like a cultural experience in itself just how bad it is. (Sorry Puppy! :o)

I mean there are cheesy musical films, I get that. But even bad cheesy films tend to make some kind of inherent sense and are emotionally involving to a degree. TGS is just kind of weirdly meaningless. It's like a back-of-an-envelope version of plot, character and message, before someone bothered to develop it. With nice songs.

Buxtonstill · 20/09/2018 15:17

It is am pile o' shite. If it purports to relate to the life of Barnum, then it is incorrect on so many levels. The schmaltzy singing makes my toes curl. I had to go and see Barnum on stage to help bleach my brain, as an antidote.

VeryBerrySeptember · 20/09/2018 16:36

I understood it a bit more when I heard that the director had done musical adverts before. They are good by the way. But what it lacked was a storyline / script.

Having said that I thought the songs worked as musical songs: that is they take you from a to b really well. The script then jarred along between them like a coach and horses on a rutted lane.

MorningsEleven · 21/09/2018 19:11

I like it! Loves me a musical. If only people burst into song and dance in real life

My eight year old does this all the time. When we go to the cinema he gets up and dances to the credits. His dancing is shite so I pretend he's got additional needs*

  • one of my kids has additional needs before I get slated. Ironically won't go to the cinema because it triggers panic attacks.
Swipe left for the next trending thread