Honestly, Jimmy is the most unlikable, moronic, horrible, self centered, egotistical pig of a man ever to exist. How she could fall for him is just absurd.
I couldn't enjoy this movie because I couldn't look past how much of a f#*king tool this idiot is.
I hated this movie, rubbish. I hired the DVD to check out some jazz, some was ok, although I hate her 'old sounding' voice, and his sax playing was about as 'intelligent' and 'thought out' as his personality - that is, trash.
The jazz in this movie was mostly a bit 'old' for my liking. Some of it was ok, but I didn't like the really old sounding stuff.
It was so damn BORING.....I mean the first half hour was DeNiro using one pick up line after another till he finally won over Minneli. Then five minute kissing scene in the cab - Aaauggh - come on - pick up the pace - That's why this movie runs for three long boring hours...My wife stayed with it while I gave up and took a bath. Then afterwards I was just messing around the house and it seemed like Liza was just singing for a solid hour - song after song after song after song with no story.
"Song after song after song after song with no story".
It´s a musical so what did you expect exactly? Also, had you bothered to pay attention you may have realized a lot of these songs´ lyrics actually reflect the goings-on in the film and the De Niro/Minnelli relationship. Nice songs, too.
Wouldn't the "old" sounding jazz and her "old" sounding voice be because of the fact that it was a WWII era film? What kind of modern jazz were you looking for?
Sorry, but I agree with the OP - this is one messed up piece of s$%t. A truly uninvolving, awful movie. It's problems are endless. But let's just start with the truth: There is not one - NOT ONE - redeeming personal quality (and being a good musician is not a personal quality) about Jimmy. Zilch. As such, the viewer is mystified that Francine could fall for such an a#$hole. It makes no sense. Secondly, there is NO story. At all. It is just a collecion of overlong scenes connected together.
That somebody decided this terrible piece of pooh needed to be lengthened (!) to 164 minutes is nothing short of absurd. The opening scene alone is three times (at least) the length it needs to be. Same thing with all the following scenes. Deniro and Minnelli are brilliantly talented and they are wasted with a terrible script, and - frankly - terrible direction. Minnelli brags in the extras interview that they adlibbed frequently, with MS giving them a starting point and an ending point. Boy, does it show. And not to the film's credit.
Leonard Maltin's reference books gives this disaster a star and a half, pointing out its slight plus - Minnelli's dynamic numbers. But they are showcased all at once after Dinero leaves Minnelli and their kid (like a poor man's "Show Boat"), totally throwing the film's narrative off balance. It's like one has changed the channel - from a bickering drama to an old Hollywood musical.
A failure on virtually every level and, sadly, it is partly to blame for destroying Minnelli's film career.
I wanted to see this movie because I wanted to find out what they had made of the jazz standards included in it. I never have like bop, but that quartet scene was one of the enjoyable jazz in the movie. Very lively.
I was trying to make out who Liza Minnelli was trying to sing like. But she seemed like a demo singer even when she was on stage. Grabbing various styles from the various jazz songbirds of the 1940s. I wasn't convinced when she was doing a demo for a Peggy Lee in the studio, which I take to be still in the 1940s. Peggy never developed that really breathy style, that Liza was using in that sequence, till well into the 1950s. Peggy Lee was still experimenting with her own vocal style herself in the 1940s.