Funny Face Review:

[This review contains spoilers]

If you thought Audrey Hepburn was ugly, you’re either dumb or stupid, yet somehow this film wants to convince you that she has a ‘funny face’. Not in this or any other lifetime. She looks like a model and there’s no other way of seeing at it in my mind.

This a musical film about fashion. Honestly, I’ve seem better musicals, Into the Woods springs to mind. Also the fashion part, I thought The Devil Wears Prada did it better. This isn’t to say the film isn’t worth watching, it is. It’s sweet, silly and harmless. However I found it to be rather unremarkable.

The dancing is fine, but given it was Fred Astaire, he really wasn’t at the top of his game. He was rather mediocre, which for him is still far better than the average dancer, but for him. Rather weak. Kay Thompson was enjoyable in her role as a rather sour woman. You warm up to her, but she really did start as rather unlikeable.

This film is a romance between Hepburn’s character Jo and Astaire’s Dick. It’s a silly but affectionate romance that gets into all sorts of trouble. Dick is many years her senior and kisses her randomly for no reason. I suppose that’s romantic, however Jo really did take her time to get close to him. It honestly felt out of place to me, why pursue someone that shows no interest? Especially for the first half of the film.

I didn’t buy the romance. Randomly kissing someone doesn’t lead to instant love. I didn’t feel the build up between them, it just kind of happened and it was odd.

The fashion part of the film is its strongest aspect. It feels believable to me. They photograph her, think she’d be great as a model and she joins in to meet some professor in Paris. Simple, but it works.

The parts of the film that shows off the fashion are lovely and they feel sophisticated. I enjoyed watching what was considered trendy back then. Hepburn just look wonderful in that role. It helps that the colours just popped of the screen, the movie was dripping in it.

This film isn’t for everyone and I couldn’t recommend it. It felt strangely average to me. The plotting was rushed in some places and a little slow in others. The musical numbers were just okay. Skip this one, go watch An American In Paris instead.