First half the best part? A major critic says so, but I disagree.
Dan Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter just reviewed the TV remake. He says it doesn't work, which is no surprise and I will not be checking it out. But this part really surprised me:
An opinion on Rocky Horror (the show, regardless of its specific adaptation) that should let you know if you want to believe anything I say anyway: The musical is front-loaded to an untenable degree. The first half of the show has "Science Fiction Double Feature," "Dammit Janet," "The Time Warp," "Sweet Transvestite," "I Can Make You a Man" and "Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me." The second half of the musical contains a lot of expositional songs that I'm always convinced I'm hearing for the first time. What that means is that either a production establishes sufficient momentum in its first hour to coast for the last hour, or it's doomed.
I've seen the movie at least 20 times, and now I'm really wondering whether he is the oddball on this or I am. (Or maybe there are roughly even numbers of people in each camp?) I have always thought this was a great movie, and (on this I know I'm an oddball) not just in an ironic, B-movie, "let's jeer at the suckage" kind of way. While it's not the kind of movie I'd want to watch alone at home, my ideal experience of this film would be with a crowd that might dress up and sway to the songs, but would not interject with all the tired jokes.
So that said, although I love the whole movie, I always felt that its greatest level of energy starts with the moment when the tablecloth is pulled and everyone is revealed to have been cannibalizing a human corpse. From there (as I recall; it's been a few years) it's pretty much nonstop action and music, leading up to Tim Curry bringing the house down with the emotional closing number "I'm Going Home". No? That's just me?
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