6/10
Goodbye Matchmaker - Hello Dolly
17 December 2011
There's a lot of back and forth on this one, comparing the cast, comparing movie to stage, a lot about Streisand being too young. Even on the Hello Dolly reviews, you get that. I wonder if people didn't know how old Barbra Streisand was if they would still say that. I also wonder how different people's reviews would be if they didn't have the chance to read others'. And, just because someone's been on stage, doesn't make them a demigod. When I saw Hello Dolly, it was love at first sight, along with a lot of other people. Probably those who didn't know all the background and about other productions. Ignorance can be bliss maybe. Probably more like too much information is just confusing. There's even some outrage that someone dared remake their little gem. Well they dared and did and kicked it up a notch, which was needed.

The musical version rocked the house from start to finish. The songs stay with you. The scenes come alive and have greater interest. Mathau was a fine curmudgeon, really funny. Streisand was that Levi woman, age immaterial. She had a full figure and easily passed for a middle aged widow. She came up to what is a strong part. Her outrageous handling was sheer delight. Her more alive and youthful aspect was much better than that rather tired old lady. If you're going to pick on age, I think it's more like Shirley Booth seemed too old for the part. This current movie under review seems kind of tired to me in general, like players doing their umpteenth performance at the end of a run. Phoned in. I never saw Shirley Booth on Broadway, and with what I see here, no regret. She's better cast as Hazel on television.

Streisand stood up and put some bump into this grind. Whoever did Hello Dolly was a real movie maker who took the same stuff to another level. In my view, it made a much more solid contribution to the movie world than Match's rather slow and odd mix of things.
2 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed