Funny Girl

Funny Girl endures precisely because of the strength of Streisand’s magnetic performance.

It’s remarkable how much of the film is constructed on, and succeeds because of, Streisand’s face and how it is lit and framed.

It's hard to think of Funny Girl, in fact, apart from Barbra Streisand. She is the life force. Director William Wyler simply drapes the opulent show around her.

When she is singing--in a marvelous scene on roller skates--when she throws a line away, or shrugs, or looks funny or sad, she has a power, gentleness and intensity that rather knocks all the props and sets and camera angles on their ear.

Streisand is stunning, but the film is a trial, particularly when the music disappears somewhere around the 90-minute mark and all that's left is leaden melodrama.

This extended Streisand Special has done absolutely nothing to correct the flaws in the Broadway original.

'Funny Girl’s extravagant production design and flamboyant musical numbers are brought to life in a way that instantly transports you to the Broadway and Hollywood moments of the late '60s.

It is the role Streisand was born to play and she nails it, finding the joy, the humor, and the pathos of Brice's story and turning it into pure screen magic.

It plays just as well in 2024, as it did in 1968 with loads of charm and grace from Streisand’s star-making performance and Wyler’s steady hand and eye in the director’s chair.

Some stars shine. This one sparkles.