Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

©2009 The Weinstein Company. All Rights Reserved

Clumsy adaptation of the 1982 stage musical about a legendary but creatively blocked Italian film director seeking inspiration from the women who shaped his life and career. Daniel Day-Lewis is fine, but from him we expect more than “fine.” It’s really a series of extraneous and unmemorable songs by competing actresses that halt the already weak narrative when they should be advancing it. You can’t accuse any of them of not trying, but perhaps trying too hard. Worst offender: Kate Hudson in “Cinema Italiano.” Bottom line: it bored my socks off whenever Marion Cotillard (wow!) was not on the screen.