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"Without promotion, something terrible happens...nothing!" - attributed to Phineas Taylor Barnum

"The Greatest Showman," directed with verve and panache by Michael Gracey , is an unabashed piece of pure entertainment, punctuated by 11 memorable songs composed by Oscar- and Tony-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul , who composed the songs for " La La Land ," as well as the current Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen . The film is made for the whole family to enjoy, and so it leaves out many of the darker elements (explored in the 1980 Broadway musical Barnum , music by Cy Coleman ). This is a difficult tightrope to walk, but credit is due to Gracey, a perfectly cast Hugh Jackman , and the entire cast, who play this story in the spirit in which it was written (by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon ). "The Greatest Showman" positions itself as a story celebrating diversity, and the importance of embracing all kinds.

There are those who will see this as a rose-colored-glasses view of what was a pretty exploitive situation. But in a 19th and early 20th century context, the circus and then vaudeville were welcoming places where those who had skills or who were rejected by society could find a home. Barnum put "misfit toys" onstage, saying, in essence, "Aren't they amazing?” (all while filling his pockets. For more thoughts on P.T. Barnum's barely acknowledged influence on American culture author Trav S.D.'s 2005 lecture at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT is a good place to start.) Cary Grant , who had a harsh poor childhood, got his start as a tumbler in a vaudeville troupe. Years later he described his revelatory first visit to the Bristol Hippodrome:

"The Saturday matinee was in full swing when I arrived backstage; and there I suddenly found my inarticulate self in a dazzling land of smiling, jostling people wearing and not wearing all sorts of costumes and doing all sorts of clever things. And that’s when I knew! What other life could there be but that of an actor? They happily traveled and toured. They were classless, cheerful, and carefree. They gaily laughed, lived, and loved."

That's what "The Greatest Showman" captures.

The film starts with the title song "The Greatest Show," a show-stopper with repetitive thumping percussion (reminiscent of Queen's ferocious "We Will Rock You"). Hugh Jackman—in red impresario's coat and top hat—takes us on a dazzling tour, with cinematographer Seamus McGarvey keeping the movements fluid, and all the actions connected, plunging you into the center ring. The whole number comes from the brazen heart of showbiz: Make it interesting! Give 'em something to look at! Make sure you reach the cheap seats! Barnum croons seductively, "Just surrender cuz you feel the feeling taking over!" I obeyed without reservation.

During the next number, "A Million Dreams" the young and poor Barnum (Ellis Rubin) befriends a well-bred little girl named Charity Hallett ( Skylar Dunn ), and they dream of creating their own destiny. This is the first time in "The Greatest Showman" where a character stops speaking and starts to sing instead; the segue is gracefully handled, setting up the artificial device early on. If you don't set up that trope with confidence, it makes it look like you're embarrassed to be doing a musical. By the end of the song, the little boy has become Hugh Jackman and the little girl has become Michelle Williams , leaping and twirling across the rooftop of their tenement, bed sheets on the line billowing to the beat.

After struggling to establish himself, Barnum launches out on his own, creating a theatre in the heart of New York City. He gathers together people with special talents as well as those with physical abnormalities (a giant, a bearded lady, Siamese twins, a dwarf—who would eventually be known as General Tom Thumb, Barnum's first "breakout star"). The "audition" sequence is extremely tricky, but the tone is set by Jackman's inclusive delight at the parade of humanity before him. It's a moment when ignored people are for the first time really seen .

Lettie Lutz, the "bearded lady," played by Tony-nominee Keala Settle, with a powerhouse voice, is one of the first to come on board. Settle's performance—her first major role onscreen—is one of the many keys to why "The Greatest Showman" is so effective. She understands the spirit of the project, and you watch her transformation from cringing shame to fearless Diva. Her anthemic "This Is Me" is one of the emotional centers of the film. Barnum's business partner is playwright and society boy Phillip Carlyle ( Zac Efron ), with snobby parents who are not only horrified at his "slumming,” but also at his romance with an African-American trapeze artist (Zendaya) who sports a pompadour of cotton-candy pink hair. Their love story, as presented, is tender, pained, and sweet.

Rebecca Ferguson plays Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale," whom Barnum took on a whirlwind concert tour through America It was his entryway into "polite" society. Jenny Lind's power ballad "Never Enough" makes you understand why Barnum, backstage, falls in love with her instantly, throwing his marriage into crisis. Ferguson may be lip-synching to Loren Allred's breathtaking vocals, but it is her performance that carries.

Ashley Wallen choreographed the numbers and there are many innovative moments, where she uses the outer environment to inform the movements of the characters. In " The Other Side ," Barnum convinces a reticent Carlyle to join the circus, and as he sings, the bartender puts down shot glasses, swipes the bar with a cloth, all as accents to the beat. The real standout, however, is "Rewrite the Stars," the love song between Efron and Zendaya,taking place in the empty circus tent, when she flies on the trapeze far above him, and he tries to climb up the ropes to meet her. Up, down, they both go, sometimes coming together, dangling above the ground, or sweeping in a wide circle together around the periphery of the tent. It is a moment when the film—every element onscreen—merges and transforms into pure emotion. This is what a musical can do like no other artform.

One of the deep pleasures of "The Greatest Showman" is you don't have to grade the singing and dancing on a curve, as was necessary with "La La Land" (or, further back, to " Chicago ," where quick cuts hid Richard Gere's lack of tap dancing skills.) Hugh Jackman, with his powerful high baritone, got his start in musicals, performing in productions in Melbourne, and then in a hugely acclaimed revival of Oklahoma! in the West End. He won a Tony Award for his performance as Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz and has hosted the Tony Awards three times. He is an old-fashioned triple-threat. Film fans may know him mainly as "Wolverine," and there's nothing wrong with that, but once upon a time a song-and-dance man like Hugh Jackman's could sing and dance his way through mainstream Hollywood. He's unleashed here.

So, too, is Zac Efron, who also got his start because he could sing and dance in the phenom that was "High School Musical." His career has morphed into something rather unique, with titles like "Hairspray," "Neighbors," and a hilarious small part in this year's " The Disaster Artist ." He has something that cannot be manufactured, although many try, and that is old-school movie star charisma. Add to that a beautiful voice, plus dancing skills, plus a surprisingly ironic sense of humor, and he's got the full package. It's thrilling to see him in a big splashy musical. He's very much at home.

Michelle Williams, with anachronistically long blonde hair, has a strong clear voice, and there's something exhilarating about how she tosses herself into thin air, knowing Jackman will catch her. In what could be a thankless "wet blanket wife" part, Williams adds a spunky sense of adventure, showing us the kind of woman who would say "No" to a ladylike society-wife life, and fling herself into the unknown with her man.

The timing of this release is interesting. On May 21, 2017, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus folded up its tent for good, after 146 years of uninterrupted operation. Rocked by controversy due to criticisms of exploitation and animal abuse, they retired the elephant acts in 2016, but it was too late. Barnum was dogged by criticisms from the beginning. Many of the "acts" were fakes. Barnum actually didn't say the quote most associated with him ("There's a sucker born every minute") but he might as well have said it and his critics despised him for the assumption about popular entertainment and the regular folk who enjoy it. But in the film, Barnum, with a dazzling smile, explains to a skeptical journalist, "People come to my show for the pleasure of being hoodwinked."

I was hoodwinked by "The Greatest Showman." And it was indeed a pleasure. Ringling Brothers may have closed up shop, but Barnum lives on.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Film credits.

The Greatest Showman (2017)

139 minutes

Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum

Zac Efron as Phillip Carlyle

Michelle Williams as Charity Barnum

Rebecca Ferguson as Jenny Lind

Zendaya as Anne Wheeler

Fredric Lehne as Mr. Hallett

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as WD Wheeler

Paul Sparks as James Gordon Bennett

Michael Gracey
Jenny Bicks
Bill Condon
Justin Paul

Cinematography

Seamus McGarvey
Joe Hutshing

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The greatest showman, common sense media reviewers.

Jackman and Zendaya entertain in musical Barnum biopic.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Encourages tolerance and acceptance of race, class

The circus performers bond together and help one a

A rich man slaps a tradesman's son for making his

Longing looks and a few passionate kisses between

Insults/threatening language: "freaks," "abominati

Barnum is its own brand.

Adults drink champagne at receptions and privately

Positive Messages

Encourages tolerance and acceptance of race, class, physical disabilities, and differences. Diversity and uniqueness are championed within the world of the circus, even as others consider it a "freak" show. Barnum is a purveyor and defender of mass/broad entertainment, which he believes has value, even though cultural critics prefer highbrow/fine arts.

Positive Role Models

The circus performers bond together and help one another feel accepted and at home in their community. Barnum is a showman who needs more and more fans, particularly rich ones, to feel validated, despite having an adoring and loyal wife, children, and close friends. Barnum's wife, Charity, is steadfast, loyal, and kind. Phillip and Anne fall in love across the racial divide of the era.

Violence & Scariness

A rich man slaps a tradesman's son for making his daughter laugh. A young man steals bread and is later smacked for doing so. Angry protesters threaten the circus performers and later set the circus on fire. The fire leads to a supporting character being severely injured, but he survives.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Longing looks and a few passionate kisses between a married couple and another couple in love. A married man spends a lot of time with an unmarried woman; she kisses him in public, even though he doesn't reciprocate. A couple holds hands and eventually kisses and declares their love, even though they know their interracial relationship is considered taboo by others.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Insults/threatening language: "freaks," "abominations," "stay away from my daughter," etc. A white couple tells their son not to go around "with the help" when they see he's taken a black woman on a date. The racial slur "spooks" is used once, as is the word "damn." A couple exclamations of "God!"

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Adults drink champagne at receptions and privately to toast good news; two men drink shot after shot in a pub; a man takes a swig of liquor from a personal flask. The circus performers drink beer and ask to be allowed into a reception to have champagne.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Greatest Showman is a biographical musical from the songwriters of La La Land that stars Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, who starts out as a penniless orphan but becomes the world-renowned creator of the circus. There's a bit of language ("damn," the racial slur "spooks," "oh God!," etc.) and violence (protesters burn down the circus, a man slaps a young boy), as well as some drama surrounding the movie's interracial romance, which was taboo at the time. But overall the plot and songs are easy enough for tweens to follow -- and with Zendaya and Zac Efron co-starring, the movie is likely to appeal to them. Although it's based on factual events, the movie only covers a short period in Barnum's life and glosses over certain aspects of his career. It's not garnering the same kind of acclaim as La La Land , but The Greatest Showman 's charming leads and circus scenes should make it a fun pick for families who enjoy history, musical theater, and, of course, the circus. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (165)
Kids say (319)

Based on 165 parent reviews

Good movie, but please add beheading by guillotine to the voilence part. No blood and it's a trick, but it should be added as an trigger for some people. Also there's lots of body shaming. (fatphobia for example) Of course that's what the movie is about. Saying people are freaks because they aren't the norm might not be the perfect thing to tell kids.

What's the story.

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is a biographical musical about young Phineas T. Barnum's life as a child, entrepreneur, museum owner, circus producer, and entertainment producer. As a young boy, Phineas "Finn" ( Ellis Rubin ), the son of a tailor, meets Charity ( Skylar Dunn ), the daughter of one of his father's wealthy clients. He makes her laugh and earns a slap from her father for it, but the spark between them lasts throughout their adolescence, even while she's away at boarding school and he's an orphan in the streets. Years later, Finn and Charity (now played by Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams ) marry and have two girls. He manages to secure a loan to open up a museum of oddities, and when that starts to fail, he's inspired by a brief encounter with a little person to invite unusual-looking folks -- including bearded lady Letty Lutz ( Keala Settle ), Tom Thumb (Sean Humphrey), and black brother-and-sister trapeze artists W.D. Wheeler (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Anne Wheeler ( Zendaya ) -- to join a show focused around them. With a little embellishment from costumes and makeup, he opens what will become the first circus. Although Barnum's show is critically panned, the masses love it. He earns a fortune, but Barnum can't stop looking for approval from the upper crust.

Is It Any Good?

Exuberant performances propel this musical biopic, which isn't perfect but does occasionally delight thanks to its stellar cast, led by the inimitable Jackman. There's inherent value in watching the talented Jackman sing and dance, and he's an ideal fit for playing the titular "greatest showman" on earth. The Greatest Showman doesn't delve into some of the uglier aspects of Barnum's life (like all the hoaxes he was accused of committing), but it does manage to entertain audiences with catchy original songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the award-winning lyricists for La La Land and the Tony-winning Broadway sensation Dear Evan Hansen .

The soundtrack is in many ways more remarkable than the movie itself, with showstopping anthems like Jackman's "The Greatest Show" and "A Million Dreams" and the romantic "Rewrite the Stars" -- a lovely duet by Efron and Zendaya. The songs will stay in your head long after the credits roll, but the plot is unevenly paced. It rushes through the buildup of the Barnums' love story and sugarcoats seedy 19th-century New York to the point that it's not really recognizable as Manhattan. It's best to appreciate the film as a flashy, colorful Broadway show, where the "book" is less important than the musical numbers.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about telling a fact-based biographical story as a musical. What makes this approach appealing? Who do you think the target audience is?

What do you think of the Barnum quote used in The Greatest Showman : "The noblest art is that of making others happy"? Do you think Barnum accomplished that?

How do you think Barnum treated his performers? Was it fair? Is he a role model ? Why has the circus become a controversial form of entertainment in more recent decades?

How accurate do you think the movie is? Why might filmmakers change the facts in movies that are based on real events? How could you find out more about Barnum's life?

Why is Anne and Phillip's relationship controversial? How have things changed since the time the movie takes place?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 20, 2017
On DVD or streaming : April 10, 2018
Cast : Hugh Jackman , Zac Efron , Michelle Williams , Zendaya , Rebecca Ferguson
Director : Michael Gracey
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors, Multiracial actors
Studio : Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Genre : Musical
Topics : History , Music and Sing-Along
Run time : 105 minutes
MPAA rating : PG
MPAA explanation : thematic elements including a brawl
Award : Golden Globe
Last updated : February 18, 2023

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Review: In ‘The Greatest Showman,’ a P.T. Barnum Smaller Than Life

By Jason Zinoman

Dec. 20, 2017

Early in “The Greatest Showman,” P.T. Barnum, played with gung-ho sincerity by Hugh Jackman, says he has long served up hokum, but now wants to do more for his audience: “Just once I’d like to give them something real.”

What fun is that?

Even after the long-running circus bearing his name closed up shop this year, P.T. Barnum remains firmly lodged in the public imagination because of his gift for blurring the line between truth and fiction. When he presented the 161-year-old nurse of George Washington as a star attraction, some of his audience knew she was phony, others did not, and then there were those who did not care and went along for the ride. There’s pleasure in a good fib (spoiler alert: Santa), as well as political advantage. When compared to Barnum last year, Donald Trump responded : “We need P.T. Barnum, a little bit.”

“The Greatest Showman,” a montage sequence that occasionally turns into a movie musical, steers clear of any contemporary resonance and ignores meaty themes. The first-time director Michael Gracey achieves an aggressively synthetic style through kinetic editing and tidy underdog stories, but none of the true joy of pulling a fast one. It’s a standard-issue holiday biopic, one that tells a story about a populist entertainer hungry for highbrow respect, the joys of showbiz and the price of ambition. An amusement park version of P.T. Barnum is fine, as far as that goes, but if you are going to aim for family-friendly fun, you need to get the fun part right.

“Showman” has the ingredients of a splashy good time, since it has the perfect star in Hugh Jackman, the most charismatic Broadway leading man of his generation; and songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul , the acclaimed duo behind the lyrics for last year’s hit movie “La La Land” (which won them Oscars) and the music for the Broadway show “Dear Evan Hansen” (which won them Tonys). But they are all awkward fits for this material. The songs, which shift from defiant pop anthems to melodramatic ballads, do not evoke the circus, or at least not the American version. Their soupy soulfulness belongs to Cirque du Soleil more than Ringling Brothers. And while Mr. Jackman is a dashing presence with an easy smile, his earnest performance could use a few knowing winks. The script doesn’t do him any favors. Its first joke is a spit-take, and it doesn’t get any wittier than that.

Not much time is wasted on Barnum’s early life. Success comes quick, soon after making his American Museum, which mixes flea circuses and bearded ladies. Then Barnum starts chasing respectability, hiring an upper-crust playwright (a colorless Zac Efron), who falls in love with an acrobat (Zendaya), and presenting on tour the opera singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson). His star attractions turn into a kind of chorus of eccentrics, with minimal back stories.

Playing the role of a skeptical theater critic as the joyless foil to the giddy fun inspired by Barnum, Paul Sparks maintains a stern deadpan, the way reviewers in movies do. As Barnum’s wife, Charity, Michelle Williams gazes adoringly, until rumors in the press of his affair with Ms. Lind prompt her eyelids to fall in disappointment.

The repercussions of this domestic drama are predictable, but at least they do lead to a delightful redemptive scene (one of the movie’s few pleasingly dreamlike moments), when Barnum uses an elephant as a New York taxi to make an appointment on time. It’s utter nonsense — imagine finding a parking space — but that’s exactly what a movie about the self-proclaimed “Prince of Humbugs” needs.

The Greatest Showman Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes.

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The Greatest Showman Reviews

Give in. Roll up. Sing along.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2023

The vivid cinematography by Seamus McGarvey and the exquisite costumes by Ellen Mirojnick capture the magic of Barnum’s circus and give the picture an attractive period feel.

Full Review | Dec 15, 2022

Quite incongruously, The Greatest Showman suggests that Barnum is a heroic figure, a woke entertainer and family man, who also capitalized on animal suffering and the veritable prostitution of human oddity.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 16, 2022

The movie is a big, loud explosion of color and excitement but one the party's over, somebody's got to clean it all up.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 11, 2022

So nice, so cheerful, its characters so indefatigable that it's impossible to hate.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 24, 2021

It's a rollercoaster of story and music that occasionally moves too fast but delivers enough thrills along the way to be worth the price of admission.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 3, 2021

A serious look at P.T. Barnum's life requires acknowledgment of the ways in which his success manifested. The Greatest Showman is therefore just as much of a fraud as he was.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 2, 2020

While one can fault this sugar-coated take on the Barnum character, it's hard to find fault with Jackman's portrayal of him.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Sep 9, 2020

Hugh Jackman dazzles as circus tycoon P.T. Barnum in this criminally underrated biopic featuring a timeless Pasek & Paul songbook of "A Million Dreams" and "Never Enough."

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 3, 2020

It won't be classified as the best movie in the world (or musical for that matter) but it is easy to see why the appeal for the film has been infectious and unanimous.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 26, 2020

A festive musical treat with an enchanting performance from Jackman and a feel-good soundtrack you'll be hunting down as soon as you leave the cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 19, 2020

What is said to be a 'celebration of humanity' lacks just that, using flair and manipulation instead.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 23, 2020

The Greatest Showman is a spectacular modern musical extravaganza in the classic Hollywood style.

Full Review | Jul 17, 2020

Thinking back on this film is giving me a headache. It is a frustrating mess, with much to mock. However, I do admit to being swept along with some of the musical numbers and circus scenes. Ultimately I have to accept that a large part of me enjoyed it.

Full Review | Jul 2, 2020

This movie does a solid job of presenting its story and providing a fantastic place for these new songs.

Full Review | May 21, 2020

This movie does still suffer from a lot of the same problems, musically, that La La Land did, where I can't understand a word that the chorus is saying.

Full Review | May 14, 2020

It had that magic of a musical... I don't know if I'd recommend it. It felt like it was peacocking me the whole time.

This isn't a subtle, finely tuned piece of art, this is cheery lunacy that revels in its attempt to call back on the positive musicals of the past.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 15, 2020

My question is, why not focus on the real facts by digging deeper? What a shame, not only to Barnum's character but also to Lind's.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 27, 2020

The Greatest Showman is so much fun. You got Hugh Jackman's contagious charisma, Zac Efron holding his own and Zendaya flying through the air with ease.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 22, 2020

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Film Review: ‘The Greatest Showman’

A wholesomely enraptured musical about the life of P.T. Barnum turns out to be a crowd-pleaser in the best sense: It's a concoction that soars.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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“ The Greatest Showman ” is a good old-fashioned cornball PG musical that is also a scintillatingly flashy — and woke! — immersion in up-to-the-minute razzmatazz. It takes the life of P.T. Barnum, the anything-goes circus impresario of the 1800s, who is played with irresistible effervescence by Hugh Jackman , and turns him into a saintly huckster-maestro who invented the spirit of modern showbiz by daring to follow his dream. At the same time, the film takes Barnum’s infamous believe-it-or-not attractions — Tom Thumb, Dog Boy, Tattoo Man, the Bearded Lady — and makes them over into sensitive enlightened outcasts, a kind of 19th-century freak-show gallery of identity politics.

How piously anachronistic is that? Very. Yet “The Greatest Showman” wants to give you a splashy good time, and does, and it’s got something that takes you by surprise: a genuine romantic spirit. The numbers are shot like electromagnetic dance-pop music videos, and to say that they sizzle with energy wouldn’t do them justice — they’re like a hypodermic shot of joy to the heart. You know you’re watching conventional chorus-line-with-a-beat flimflam, all decorating a tall tale, but that’s the ultra Hollywood pleasure of “The Greatest Showman.” It’s a biopic that forges its own uplifting mythology, and if you think back on it when it’s over and feel, maybe just a little bit, like you’ve been had — well, that’s part of its sleight-of-hand charm. P.T. Barnum would have been suckered by it, and would have approved.

The movie, shot with richly lacquered pizzazz by Seamus McGarvey, opens with a spectacular shot of Jackman’s Barnum, silhouetted under the rafters in his signature long coat and top hat, looking like as pure a creature of theatrical bravado as the M.C. in “Cabaret.” And though “The Greatest Showman” offers a much more family-friendly vision (this film about the sleazy bottom rungs of the entertainment world is one you could easily take young children to), it conjures the spirit of Bob Fosse — his imperious snap and verve — in the sexy precision of its choreography, and in its vision of a lowly circus that titillates and thrills because it demonstrates that all the world’s a stage.

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The basic storyline, however, is tidy in its symmetries, made with a pleasing neo-traditional studio-system squareness. That first number, “The Greatest Show,” with its wild and primitive beat merging into a powerful hook, breaks off after about a minute, leaving us salivating for more stage ecstasy. The movie then flashes back to the 1820s, when Phineas Taylor Barnum is just a kid (played by Ellis Rubin, who suggests a hungry young Pete Townshend), traveling to rich people’s houses along with his tailor father, and watching the two of them get treated like the lowliest of servants. At the snobby home of the Halletts (Frederic Lehne and Kathryn Meisle), Phineas meets their daughter, Charity (Skylar Dunn), and the soaring duet “A Million Dreams,” with its creamy pristine harmonies, establishes “The Greatest Showman” as one of those movies in which a couple fall in love as children, and the enchanted innocence of their connection lets us know that that love will be forever.

Phineas grows up into P.T. Barnum (Jackman), who woos Charity (Michelle Williams) over the disdainful objections of her father. This sets up the essence of his motivation to become a showman: He wants to give Charity the life to which she’s accustomed — and, while he’s at it, to whip her father at his own game.

Barnum ekes out a living in a Dickensian shipping office, and when the company goes bankrupt, he’s got nothing to lose. The couple now has two daughters (Austyn Johnson and Cameron Seely), and Barnum’s fantasy is a kind of trifecta: He wants to fend for his family (he’s wounded at not being able to buy his girls ballet slippers), he wants to validate the love of the wife he lured into poverty — and he wants to do something that no one has done before: turn life, in all its gutbucket wonder, into a star attraction.

Jackman plays Barnum with a rapacious grin, his eyes twinkling with moonstruck pleasure. He wants the whole world to see what he sees, and a little more — he wants them to see the tawdry wonder of it. That will require a new kind of presentational daring, not to mention a little lying. Eagerly, with his eyes on the prize, Barnum lines up his fabulous freaks: a 500-pound man, who he will bill as a 750-pound man (why not?), dubbing him the Irish Giant (even though he’s Russian). A 22-year-old dwarf known as Tom Thumb (Sam Humphrey), whom he dresses as Napoleon on a horse. And, of course, the most singular freak of all: Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle), the Bearded Lady. Barnum convinces these benighted folks to join his circus, housed in a building in Manhattan just as the city’s concrete grandeur is locking into place — the new world being constructed around horse-and-buggy paths. Barnum is already plugging into the notion that people are numb, jaded, overwhelmed. They need something to prod them to life.

The crowd, he says, will have a chance to behold the humanity of his freaks — and that’s true, in a sense, to what P.T. Barnum did. He dragged the strange and the deformed out of the closet (literally, in some cases), and forced his audience to confront their realness. Yet if you’re really going to get real about it, he was a master exploiter. This was not “My Left Foot;” he packaged his freaks as The Other — and “The Greatest Showman” turns Barnum, for all his carny capitalism, into the multiculti Mother Teresa of oddball showmanship. He really believes he’s doing it for their own good, and so does the movie.

Yet when Barnum’s attractions join together to sing and dance their eccentric asses off in the exhilarating chorus of “Come Alive” (“ And you know you can’t go back again,/ To the world that you were living in,/ ’Cause you’re dreaming with your eyes wide open”), the number sweeps you into its majestic syncopated flow, with its hint of gospel, its surge of melodic compassion. The songs were composed by the team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote the lyrics for the songs in “La La Land,” and they’ve crafted rhythms and melodies that drive the movie — gorgeously — forward. When the Bearded Lady gets her own number, the inspirational rouser “This Is Me,” the scene is a pure-hearted epiphany. It’s enough to make you want to see “The Elephant Man” turned into a musical written by Lady Gaga.

The numbers in “The Greatest Showman” have a dance-pop fire that keeps you hooked, and that bursting-out quality recalls, at times, the spirit of “Moulin Rouge!” Yet “The Greatest Showman,” while it’s all but destined to become the crowd-pleaser of the holiday season (and, just possibly, a surprise awards contender), lacks the darkly audacious grandeur that made “Moulin Rouge!” a work of movie-musical art. The film’s conflicts have a storybook simplicity.

Barnum hires, as a right-hand man, a slumming rich-kid playwright, Phillip Caryle ( Zac Efron ), who’s got downscale showmanship in his blood. Phillip is quickly consumed by his love for the black trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (Zendaya), a clandestine passion that builds to the devotional duet “Rewrite the Stars,” a number literally — and spiritually — suspended in air. Efron and Zendaya have a terrific chemistry — they never stop seeking each other out. But it’s Barnum’s wandering eye that drives the film’s conflict.

During a visit to Queen Victoria, he meets the celebrated Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), and he’s captivated — by her voice, and her crystaline presence. On stage in America, kicking off the tour that Barnum leverages his empire to arrange (which really happened), Jenny, in ruby-red lipstick, sings “Never Enough” with an ecstatic solemnity that leaves you floored. The spectacular vocals are by “The Voice” alum Loren Allred, who with her rapturous cries of “Never! Never!” sounds like Adele ascending into the heavens. Has Barnum fallen in love? A little bit, yet he remains faithful to his wife. The real thing he’s fallen for is Jenny’s dream of upscale sublimity. So he begins to leave his freaks behind.

The director, Michael Gracey, is an Australian maker of commercials who has never directed a feature before, and he works with an exuberant sincerity that can’t be faked. “The Greatest Showman” is a concoction, the kind of film where all the pieces click into place, yet at an hour and 45 minutes it flies by, and the link it draws between P.T. Barnum and the spirit of today is more than hype. Barnum, in his carny-barker way, knows that everyone is a star; his appeal, as Jackman portrays him, is that he changes the world by getting the whole world to believe that. He really did invent the greatest show on earth. Until, of course, it was topped by something called Hollywood.

Reviewed at AMC 34th St., New York, Dec. 10, 2017. MPAA Rating: PG. Running time: 105 MIN.

Production: A 20th Century Fox release of a Chernin Entertainment, TSG Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox production. Producers: Laurence Mark, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping. Executive producers: Tonia Davis, Donald J. Lee Jr., James Mangold.
Crew: Director: Michael Gracey. Screenplay: Jenny Bicks, Bill Condon. Camera (color, widescreen): Seamus McGarvey. Editors: Tom Cross, Robert Duffy, Joe Hutshing, Michael McCusker, Jon Poll, Spencer Susser. Music: Benj Pasek, Justin Paul.
With: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Austyn Johnson, Cameron Seely, Keala Settle, Sam Humphrey, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ellis Rubin, Skylar Dunn.

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‘the greatest showman’: film review.

Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum in 'The Greatest Showman,' a family musical inspired by the life of the legendary 19th-century ringmaster, which also features Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and Zendaya.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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The sawdust and sequins are laid on thick, the period flashbulbs pop and the champagne flows in The Greatest Showman , yet this ersatz portrait of American big-top tent impresario P.T. Barnum is all smoke and mirrors, no substance. It hammers pedestrian themes of family, friendship and inclusivity while neglecting the fundaments of character and story. First-time director Michael Gracey exposes his roots in commercials and music videos by shaping a movie musical whose references go no further back than Baz Luhrmann . And despite a cast of proven vocalists led with his customary gusto by Hugh Jackman , the interchangeably generic pop songs are so numbingly overproduced they all sound like they’re being performed off-camera.

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'The Greatest Showman': Review

By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic 2017-12-20T08:01:00+00:00

Hugh Jackman stars as 19th century entertainer P.T. Barnum in this musical extravaganza

Source: Twentieth Century Fox

The Greatest Showman

Dir: Michael Gracey. US. 2017. 105mins

The Greatest Showman tells the story of P.T. Barnum, a 19th century entertainer born of modest means who longed to be accepted by the upper crust of society, but this strained musical is content to play to the cheap seats. Earnest in the extreme and armed with lethal amounts of razzle-dazzle, the feature debut of commercial director Michael Gracey is an all-out assault of sentiment, pop songs and dime-store psychology that’s somewhat held together by Hugh Jackman’s likably shameless portrayal of this striving charmer.

Working his bulletproof grin and sparkly eyes to maximum effect, Jackson has no problem with the overblown showstoppers

Arriving in US theatres December 20 and the UK a week later, this Fox release will hope to capitalize on Jackman’s appeal, which will be amplified by the presence of Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and Rebecca Ferguson among the supporting cast. Not terribly dissimilar from the crowd-pleasing La La Land ($446 million worldwide), which also focused on characters torn between career aspirations and domesticity, The Greatest Showman stands as one of the most viable counterprogramming options to The Last Jedi — although it will face direct competition from Pitch Perfect 3 .

Inspired by the life of Phineas Taylor Barnum, who masterminded must-see spectacles involving human curiosities and circus acts, the movie follows as lowly commoner Barnum (Jackman) wins the heart of well-to-do local beauty Charity (Williams) and raises a family in New York; all the while holding onto the dream of making his name as an impresario. Finding fortune by creating a show featuring bizarre individuals, like a bearded lady and conjoined twins, the disrespect he feels from the city’s elite provokes him to team up with Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron), a snobby theatre producer who becomes his ambassador to high society.

Subtlety has no place in The Greatest Showman , which tends to hammer every element of its story right through the audience’s skull. Whether it’s the preaching of inclusiveness — eventually, Barnum realizes he shouldn’t exploit his performers’ oddities — or the brash, melodramatic songs that litter the narrative, Gracey goes for unabashed emotion in the hopes that it will make his themes more resonant.

Oscar-winner composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote the lyrics for La La Land , turn in a collection of songs that runs the gamut from pleasantly sappy to blandly percussive. In general, the tunes don’t enlarge or enrich the characters but, instead, reiterate their basic drives. That’s particularly frustrating in the case of Barnum, who is meant to be a complicated, ambitious man chasing the approval of those who look down their nose at his freak-show attractions — all the while neglecting his loyal wife and adorable daughters.

Working his bulletproof grin and sparkly eyes to maximum effect, the Tony-winning Jackson has no problem with the busy choreography and overblown showstoppers, but the film doesn’t have the guts to really explore the character’s inherent darkness. Gracey makes sure this benign musical never wades too far into murky moral waters, and therefore Barnum’s flirtation with infidelity — in the form of the beguiling Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), who represents the finer things in life — lacks genuine stakes or pathos. As one might expect, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey and production designer Nathan Crowley drape The Greatest Showman in eye-popping glitz, adding to the film’s knowing artificiality.

With all that said, the film clatters along with enough gusto that it’s easy to tap into its mindlessness. For every caffeinated musical number, a relatively sedate sequence — such as one involving Carlyle and a pretty trapeze artist (Zendaya) who fall in love while serenading each other and twirling on a rope — hits all the sweet spots of a romantic song-and-dance movie moment.

Ferguson registers strongest among the supporting cast as a sophisticated artist who tempts Barnum away from his home life. (Loren Allred provides the character’s heavenly singing.) But the rest of the ensemble struggles in thin roles, although Williams does what she can to make Barnum’s ineffectual wife a smidge more interesting. Williams sings Charity’s heartsick ballad herself, and the actress’ vulnerable voice adds poignancy to a character who realizes her dreamer of a husband may be seduced by his latest obsession.

Production companies: TSG Entertainment, Laurence Mark Productions, Chernin Entertainment

Worldwide distribution: Twentieth Century Fox, www.foxmovies.com

Producers: Laurence Mark, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping

Executive producers: James Mangold, Donald J. Lee, Jr., Tonia Davis

Screenplay: Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, story by Jenny Bicks

Cinematography: Seamus McGarvey

Production design: Nathan Crowley

Editors: Tom Cross, Robert Duffy, Joe Hutshing, Michael McCusker, Jon Poll, Spencer Susser

Music: John Debney & Joseph Trapanese

Website: www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-greatest-showman

Main Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Keala Settle

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DVD & Streaming

The Greatest Showman

Drama , Musical

Content Caution

In Theaters

December 20, 2017
Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum; Zac Efron as Phillip Carlyle; Michelle Williams as Charity Barnum; Zendaya as Anne Wheeler; Rebecca Ferguson as Jenny Lind; Paul Sparks as James Gordon Bennett; Keala Settle as The Bearded Woman; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as WD Wheeler; Sam Humphrey as Charles Stratton; Skylar Dunn as Young Charity; Cameron Seely as Helen Barnum; Ellis Ruben as Young P.T. Barnum.

Home Release Date

April 10, 2018
Michael Gracey

Distributor

20th Century Fox

Movie Review

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Well, take out the lions, tigers and bears, then and add an elephant, an unlikely gang of misfits and a ring master and you’ve got … the circus . But a circus isn’t born overnight. An no one knows that better than Phineas Taylor Barnum, better known as P.T. Barnum.

Born into poverty and the son of a tailor, Barnum has a lot on his plate. He must grapple with the death of his father, the disdain of his father-in-law and the ongoing demands of providing for his family.

But he’s determined to prove himself to them—and to the world. And that means thinking outside the box.

What one person might consider a calamity, for instance, Barnum views as an opportunity. After he’s laid off from his job, Barnum opens a museum. Not just any ol’ museum, mind you. This one specializes in wax figures, preserved rarities and all things … odd. Still, Barnum’s daughters think it needs something with even more ticket-selling pizzazz—something alive and human. Like, say, a bearded woman. Or a brother-sister trapeze duo. Or a grown man who’s just a few feet tall.

According to Barnum, “a man’s station is limited only to his imagination.” So imagine he does.

But while the showman’s family and his newfound performers benefit from his creativity, not everyone is enthralled with his idea of a “circus.” Some of Barnum’s critics deride it as a “freak show.”

Will Barnum persevere in pursuing his eccentric-but-engaging vision of entertainment? Or will his rising fame and fortune blind the natural-born promoter to what truly matters in life? The Greatest Showman unpacks the answers to those questions in a musical that invites audiences to step behind the curtain of P.T. Barnum’s remarkable life.

Positive Elements

The Greatest Showman explores the twin factors that propelled P.T. Barnum to success: his need to provide for his family combined with his need to find a greater purpose in life. Along the way, Barnum becomes a hero of sorts—a hero who experiences the highs and lows that dreaming big inevitably creates. Amid his growing success, though, Barnum is dedicated to the happiness of his family. He vows to place them first as he ventures into the unknown, where things aren’t as easy as they may seem.

“We can live in a world we design,” Barnum tells his family at one point. So design they do. In the process, they recruit the outcasts of society and work hard to give them a place where they feel value—often for the first time in their lives—even though their lives are still quite difficult.

Barnum models unconditional acceptance for some who’ve been disowned even by their own families. He accepts them despite their differences in a world that, he says, may “never stop judging.” He hires people of all shapes, sizes, classes and races, and there is a sense that a “celebration of humanity” exists within the circus troupe he cultivates. A family, if you will.

Along the way, one character is inspired to pursue a mixed-race romance (in the face of sharp criticism from his family), even though it was culturally unheard of at the time. And Barnum—ever the vision-caster—tells his circus performers repeatedly that “[critics] don’t understand, but they will.”

Barnum increasingly faces the various pressures of the entertainment industry, as well as scandals that threaten to ruin his creative enterprise. But he vows that his “eyes won’t be blinded by the light.” And indeed, messages about the importance of fidelity and family resonate throughout the film.

Spiritual Elements

Barnum gives his daughters a “wishing machine,” which he says will make their dreams come true. (Of course, he’s the one who works hard to fulfill their every desire.)

Angry members of the Catholic Legion of Decency protest the circus.

Sexual Content

Phillip and Anne (the mixed-race couple mentioned above) sing a song that includes some lyrics that are mildly suggestive: “You know I want you/ … I know you want me/ … But I can’t have you.” We see the pair swing together, intertwined, on the end of a rope. After a fall, Anne rolls on top of Phillip. They briefly hold hands and kiss in two scenes. Likewise, P.T. Barnum repeatedly kisses his wife, Charity.

Another female character tries to seduce Barnum, but he declines her advances. Later, she kisses him unexpectedly onstage, resulting in a scandal.

Women in the circus crew often wear tight, burlesque outfits (lace and garter belt stockings) that reveal their upper thighs and cleavage.

Violent Content

Young P.T. Barnum is slapped, pushed and hit. Two circus members brawl with unruly men who are shouting names at them. We also see a fire (that’s set on purpose), as well as several characters bravely trying to rescue others from it.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear the word “d–n” in two songs. As mentioned, circus members are repeatedly derided as “freaks.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Characters (including Barnum) down beer, champagne and shots of hard liquor. In one particular scene, Barnum and another character knock back enough shots to seemingly raise their blood alcohol level well beyond legal or safe limits.

Other Negative Elements

Barnum is orphaned after his father’s death, a fate that leads him to steal bread to survive. As an adult, Barnum lies at one point (though, admittedly, in the service of trying to provide for his family).

As Barnum’s popularity increases and his ambitions grow ever larger, he takes off across the United States, leaving his family and his crew behind. He lives lavishly. In one scene where he’s trying to impress some well-to-do patrons, he treats his crew cruelly. His wife misses “the man I fell in love with,” and his young daughters live for a time without their father’s presence in their lives. Barnum’s self-focused choices nearly cost him his marriage, but that conflict is resolved by film’s end.

Hugh Jackman, who stars as P.T. Barnum here, recently compared the iconic character he portrays to “Elon Musk or Steve Jobs.” Like those men, Barnum was truly an innovator. He constantly challenged the rules of traditional society, creating an unprecedented world of wonder as he invited audiences to gaze into the great and the unknown, the majestic and the mysterious. “Comfort,” he opined, was “the enemy of progress.”

Barnum’s extravagant circus performances appealed to huge audiences. But those shows also generated criticism from some who felt the great showman’s work was nothing but an immoral spectacle. The Greatest Showman paints a portrait of the metaphorical tightrope P.T. Barnum walked, and we’re drawn into his mesmerizing world where dreams take flight. There, all individuals have value, family is esteemed highly, and fidelity is shown to be the bedrock of marriage.

It’s a place where you feel as if anything is possible, that any dreamer can conquer the world. You might even stand to leave with a feeling of true joy thinking, as did Barnum, “The greatest art is of making others happy.”

Kristin Smith

Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).

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The Greatest Showman Review

26 Dec 2017

The Greatest Showman

A year ago, La La Land was hailed as the saviour of the movie musical, but it only went so far, aping the look but not the tone of the old classics. The Greatest Showman , on the other hand, is an unabashed throwback, consciously modelling itself on the likes of Carousel and The Greatest Show On Earth , but adding modern pop tunes and a whole heap of CGI. It races along at a breakneck pace and occasionally stumbles into mawkishness, but is carried along by Hugh Jackman’s total commitment and some appallingly catchy songs.

Carried along by Hugh Jackman’s total commitment and some appallingly catchy songs.

Our hero is Phineas Taylor Barnum (Jackman), who we glimpse at the height of his circus fame before flashing back to a tough childhood on the streets — though he still manages to win the heart and hand of rich girl Charity (Williams). Dreaming of better times for them both, he cons his way into a bank loan and opens a wax museum, but when that threatens to go under he adds a collection of “unique individuals”: a bearded lady (the stunning Keala Settle), the diminutive Tom Thumb (Sam Humphrey) and more. Success follows, but Barnum is still confined to the fringes of high society. So he gambles all he’s built on the “Swedish nightingale”, opera singer Jenny Lind (Ferguson), who hypnotises him and threatens his marriage, and a high-class tour of the country’s opera houses.

The film races through its plot so there’s more time to lavish on its big-production numbers, and it’s here that director Michael Gracey’s comfort with tech is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, his meticulously planned dazzle really does glimmer with colour and flash, but he leans a little too heavily on the CG to stitch together impossible camera angles, create trapeze wires that don’t obey the laws of physics at all and add in animal accompaniment, in a way that sometimes amplifies artificiality in an already tall tale. Perhaps that’s in keeping with his subject — Barnum did, after all, put his giant on stilts and stuff the shirt of the “world’s fattest man”, so perhaps too much seemed like just enough.

Still, the story’s more or less just a hook for, firstly, a succession of songs by Dear Evan Hansen ’s Pasek and Paul, and they largely deliver. There are four or five absolute bangers here, and you can count on at least one sticking in your head for a week or more. And secondly, it allows us to watch a brash, big-hearted, blindly optimistic turn from Hugh Jackman as the unsinkable Barnum himself. It’s ultimately about that hoariest of clichés — learning what’s really important in life — but it’s delivered with such sincerity and heart that it’s hard to mind.

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Den of Geek

The Greatest Showman Review

Hugh Jackman probably is the greatest showman alive, but the movie of the same name doesn't provide an amazing venue for that talent.

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It’s been mused before that Hugh Jackman was born in the wrong era. As an immensely talented song and dance man, he would have ruled on high from Vaudeville and the glitzy black and white toe-tappers that were the closest the Depression generation came to superhero events. Yet even with multiple Tonys and an Oscar nomination for Les Miserables under his belt, Jackman’s desire to truly bring that kind of unabashed conviviality back to the mainstream has never been so fully realized as in The Greatest Showman . For here is an old-fashioned star vehicle that was designed from the ground up to showcase his talent with an intentionally jarring modern pop undercurrent.

Featuring multiple songs that could just as easily be the basis for extra tracks on Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Greatest Showman aims to be both a classic kind of family entertainment and something as anachronistic as Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! But while it daringly features its own original music, unlike Luhrmann’s pop collage, Showman also lacks that inspiration’s audacity and subversive streak. It is going for a broader commercial audience than Luhrmann’s art house darling, but in the process Greatest Showman becomes as innocuous and toothless as the benign Top 40 bubblegum it so desperately emulates. Hence why despite its circus and human “oddity” subject matters, the strangest sight is that of a musical determined to play for a generation that doesn’t watch musicals.

Envisioned with a glow so rosy behind its lens that it’s a wonder the scenery itself isn’t blushing, The Greatest Showman tells with immeasurable cheer the life story of P.T. Barnum. Legend suggests Barnum was the man who originated the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” but as portrayed by a buoyant and joyful Jackman, that could never be. As relayed through a massively efficient exposition song, he is but a tailor’s boy who falls in love with a girl born from New York high society. As a teenager, he convinces Charity (Michelle Williams) to run away with him and start a new life. But 10 years later, and with two daughters to support, their tenement lifestyle chafes Barnum’s thwarted ambition.

Luckily this is nothing to worry about. No conflict in this film is too insurmountable when faced with a little American gumption and a slickly produced four-chord song. Soon enough Barnum has his idea for a show that stars people who he historically called “freaks,” although this glistening version never has Barnum utter such a word. They are gifted people like the Bearded Woman (a soulful Keala Settle) or a dwarf dressed as Napoleon named Charlie (Sam Humphrey). Barnum is even depicted in the film as a free-thinker as much as an opportunist when he hires Zendaya’s Anne Wheeler as his star African American acrobat.

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By recasting the shrewd capitalistic venture that popularized the term “freak show” into an empowering articulation of beautiful individualism, everything Barnum and his new business partner, the delightfully bored blue blood Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron), is swell until ol’ P.T. begins chasing dreams of high society acceptance, and lets a seductive opera singer (Rebecca Ferguson) into his oeuvre. But even then, the songs are epic crowd-pleasers.

In many ways, the movie’s ultimately central conflict of an artist with mainstream success wishing to crossover into rarified respectability feels intimately drawn from Jackman’s own career. Despite being loved for his blockbuster roles, particularly those involving mutants and other types of “oddities,” Jackman still crosses the culture lines to be valued as a sensitive artiste on the boards of Broadway, or in decidedly less four-quadrant films like Prisoners and The Fountain . However, that narrative of tortured ambition is not what’s on Greatest Showman ’s mind… or in its feet. To showcase the intended beauty of the many waltzing set-pieces, any narrative beats are drenched in a saccharine glaze so heavy that it could drown one of P.T.’s elephants.

This unfortunately leads most of the supporting roles to be ticket stub thin, as Michelle Williams is wasted in the part of supportive (but suffering) wife, and all the gifted performers are treated with the level of sincerity found in a greeting card. Some of that thinness is beneficial, however, as Zendaya’s undeniable charm wouldn’t have felt any more out of place in this 19th century setting than if she had whipped out an iPhone.

Still, like the older musical vehicles, narrative and character are but scenery on the drive toward the next song, and first-time director Michael Gracey achieves a splendid and acutely glossy affectation to all of the musical numbers. Tracking each of the heavily choreographed belters with a wildly aggressive camera, there is an undeniable shimmer to the taps. One particular highlight is where Jackman and Efron haggle over the latter’s percentage in the circus as a business partner. It’s a bit that wouldn’t have been out of place for Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, and the movie would have been better served to have them musically spar more.

Unfortunately, most of the music from Benji Pasek and Justin Paul becomes the movie’s greatest albatross. With nearly every number designed to evoke the faux-empowerment of a Katy Perry anthem like “Firework” or “Roar,” it becomes just as insipid as those squad goals, save for that Showman ’s imitations often miss the tantalizing hook. The two exceptions are Settle’s showstopper about not being ashamed for being different, “This is Me,” which errs closer to a Lady Gaga ballad, and “Never Enough,” Ferguson’s big Adele-styled showcase in an opera house. It has as much to do with opera as “Rolling in the Deep,” but damned if it won’t bring the house down.

Intriguingly, Pasek and Paul wrote the lyrics for last year’s La La Land , and as they take the reins for song and lyrics here, they aim to make something far less nostalgic. However, the contrast just heightens the notable disappointments in Showman ’s book of songs when it has much better singers than Ryan Gosling, not least of which includes Hugh Jackman, and yet the film doesn’t have a fraction of the art or joy that came from La La ‘s more limited range.

The Greatest Showman is so eager to entertain, and so earnest in its sentimentality, that it is hard to fully begrudge its bounding goodwill. The strategically placed syrup might be as calculated as a sales pitch from the real P.T. Barnum, but there is a harmless desire to simply entertain that is occasionally charming. It probably is true that Jackman is the greatest showman alive, but he deserves a better venue than this to exhibit that magic.

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2.5 out of 5

David Crow | @DCrowsNest

David Crow is the movies editor at Den of Geek. He has long been proud of his geek credentials. Raised on cinema classics that ranged from…

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Movie Review: The Greatest Showman (2017)

Dominique Meyer
Movie Reviews
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--> January 22, 2018

The Greatest Showman is a confusing animal. Its opening frames begin the movie by displaying the familiar and orchestral 20th Century Fox logo used from the 50s through the 80s, implying the audience is in for a reverent throwback to the classic Hollywood musicals of yore. Then — literally six seconds later — the studio’s modernized logo pops up accompanied by a jarringly loud pop song from the film’s soundtrack. Aside from a few opening credits presented in the style of silent film dialog cards, this is the last time The Greatest Showman ever feels like an homage, as it spends the next 104 minutes never completely committing to any of the ideas or themes it sets up.

While previous productions across multiple mediums have explored the life of famous entrepreneur P.T. Barnum in greater detail, The Greatest Showman offers a simplified retelling of the entertainer’s beginnings through a fluffy musical romp oriented towards families and children. In lieu of the darker points in Barnum’s story, we’re treated to eleven anachronistic, yet surprisingly fun tunes written by “ La La Land ” lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. From the loud and bombastic “Come Alive,” to the heartbreaking emotion behind “Never Enough,” and finishing off with the refreshing acoustic melody in “From Now On,” every song is both competently written and arranged in a catchy manner. While not every song has a corresponding dance number, the choreography for those that exist is filmed with seemingly expert skill by first-time director Michael Gracey, effortlessly flaunting his eye for spectacle.

As expected, Hugh Jackman (“ Les Misérables ”) brings his A-game to the lead role of P.T. Barnum. Fearlessly hitting powerful crescendos, he looks to be having the time of his life performing each and every number. Complementing his arc is his childhood sweetheart-turned-wife Charity (Michelle Williams, “ All the Money in the World ”). While she only gets to sing in two of the numbers, she manages to bring both a cheery and tragic weight to them, elevating a particular solo number from being somewhat forgettable to hugely empathetic. Outside of the musical numbers, Jackman and Williams share a charming romance for about twenty minutes, after which their romance disappointingly tackles the predictable trappings of the “father who’s too busy for his family” cliché.

Sadly, the supporting cast gets the short end of the stick here. Zac Efron (“ Baywatch ”) portrays businessman Philip Carlyle, while Zendaya (“ Spider-Man: Homecoming ”) portrays trapeze artist Anne Wheeler. They both own their scenes when given the reins to do so (particularly Zendaya performing all of her practical trapeze stunts), but their characterization is paper-thin. Carlyle is supposedly sacrificing a lavish, wealthy lifestyle by associating with Barnum’s show and becoming romantically involved with Anne, but we neither see this supposed lifestyle nor is it fully established what Carlyle’s initial reasoning is to escape it. Furthermore, while the majority of the circus performers get multiple sequences to dance and sing, they are all (Anne included) virtually shoved to the wayside unless they get to belt a number. The Greatest Showman is about Barnum more than anyone else, and this is especially troubling as the headlining number “This Is Me” essentially confirms the message of the movie is about inclusivity and owning up to your identity. Yet the “runaways” that are “running the night” are relegated to serving as a backdrop for Barnum’s journey, which in and of itself is still an oversimplified portrait of a very complex figure.

Another very unclear aspect of the movie is the level of deceit behind Barnum’s business. An entertainment critic (Paul Sparks, “ Midnight Special ”) spends his screen time repeatedly condemning the circus as “fake” with Barnum at one point acknowledging that his audience enjoys being “hoodwinked,” yet the movie portrays the circus folk’s oddities as completely genuine. The bearded lady is actually bearded, the dog man is disgustingly hairy, and the tallest man in the world is really, really tall. At its worst, Barnum’s deception appears to be nothing more than giving a character a stage name or slightly exaggerating an obese man’s weight. The flaws in Barnam’s character as a businessman are mostly addressed in momentary instances, and they’re too slight to ever make an impact.

So what’s really being said here? Is this the film’s way of commenting on show business in the modern day, such as the effect films like The Greatest Showman have on audiences despite being completely manufactured? We see a plethora of digital enhancements throughout the circus sequences, and although they are never distracting enough to take you completely out of the moment, they undercut one of the most unique qualities about enjoying a circus — the fact that every stunt is both real and performed live right in front of you. Granted, there are several moments of acrobatics that are impressive (most of them in the background), but the preference for digital-over-practical effects leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the wonder factor.

However, despite the movie’s constant shortcomings, there is a very good chance you will still exit the movie smiling. To the over-analytic demographics, this movie will likely not meet your standards. In fact, the worst expectation to have walking in is that of a historically-accurate biopic — it’s anything but. There’s a humble and earnest quality to it that remains present throughout, and with Jackman’s charismatic performance leading the charge and backed up by a soundtrack worth looping on repeat for hours, The Greatest Showman might not be the greatest show, but it’s certainly one that should be given a look.

Tagged: business , circus , freaks , marriage , opera , relationships

An unabashed lover of all things film, Dominique Meyer is also an aspiring actor and Uber driver based in Dallas, TX. His hobbies include watching movies, breathing movies, living for movies, and consuming gratuitous amounts of cheese.

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Zac Efron and Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman.

The Greatest Showman review – roll up, roll up, zone out

I magine Tod Browning’s 1932 pre-Code horror film Freaks asset-stripped by a third-rate Baz Luhrmann wannabe, the chilling refrain “one of us” sanitised into something closer to a soft-drink commercial tagline than a menace. Imagine a musical that, like its score, is all air-punching chorus and no verse; a featherlight film in which what meagre narrative there is unfolds in endless, oily musical montages. Imagine a film that replaces an emotional climax with a scene in which the main character rides an enormous CGI elephant covered in glitter. In fact, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to conjure up a film such as The Greatest Showman , which is an uninspired plod through the life of PT Barnum (Hugh Jackman). For all the skittish, pirouetting camera and sparkles, the characterisation is barely Lycra-deep and the magic that Barnum brought to his shows is lacking.

It is not entirely without redeeming features. An aerial song-and-dance sequence between slumming toff Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron) and trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (Zendaya) is a giddy joy. And Hugh Jackman is clearly having an absolute ball in the role. Still, it is hard to forgive a film that casts Michelle Williams in a key role but doesn’t give her the opportunity to do any actual acting.

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Movie Review – ‘The Greatest Showman’

Ben Wasserman

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The Greatest Showman reviews fall for the razzle-dazzle, but not much else

According to critics, The Greatest Showman lives up to its subject, P.T. Barnum, but that's not necessarily a good thing. It's not necessarily a bad thing, either.

With a headlining role from Hugh Jackman and music from Oscar-winning La La Land songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, The Greatest Showman paints a portrait of Barnum as a dream seeker looking to bust out of his humble life to achieve something grand. What that becomes is a troupe of oddities — including Tony winner Keala Settle as the Bearded Lady — that will come to establish the Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The film delivers "a lavish candybox musical bursting with broad strokes, bright colors, and bearded ladies," writes EW's Leah Greenblatt . But if you're looking for more subtlety or impactful character development, " The Greatest Showman hasn't come to linger on that kind of self-reflection; it's too busy delivering great spectacle, and a lot of swirly, shiny humbug."

Other critics agree that, while The Greatest Showman will dazzle you with "the sawdust and sequins," "the CGI acrobatics," and the "impresario" that is Jackman as Barnum, the true joy of the film will come about if you accept "the dizzy pleasure of letting yourself be hoodwinked." If not, it'll be a slog.

Directed by Michael Gracey, primarily known for his commercial and music video work, the film also features performances from Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, and Michelle Williams.

Is The Greatest Showman on Netflix?

Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for! Hearing Hugh Jackman sing those words for the first time certainly sent a chill through all of our spines as this The Greatest Showman actor truly set the stage for the new generation of musical movies in Hollywood. It's a shame that you can't rewatch the movie on Netflix, but because it a 20th Century Fox film, The Greatest Showman belongs to Disney.

Also starring the wonderful Zendaya , this 2017 film not only featured a diverse cast but also told diverse stories of social outcasts being brought together by their similar experiences and shared talents.

Truly a sight to behold and a fun journey from start to finish, The Greatest Showman is a film that you definitely have to add to your movie watch list. Find out where you can the Academy Award-nominated film down below.

Stream The Greatest Showman on Disney+

Good news! This 2017 film is currently available to watch via Disney+ upon sign-up and subscription. Additionally, if you don’t mind spending a few coins, you can also rent the film with Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. The options are endless! Since the movie has been out for a long time now, you can purchase a physical copy on Blu-ray or DVD wherever you purchase your physical media.

For those who don't want to wait to start watching, here's how you can sign-up for Disney+ right now.

Head to the official Disney+ account and make a new account, or you can create your own! Then you'll need to select yours or your family's profile.
Since Disney is offering bundles with Hulu and ESPN+ you'll need to decide which one to get. There are multiple options, which you can learn more about below.
Once your plan is selected, all you need to do is enter your payment information and hit play!

Disney+ plans

Disney has a lot of plan options, so we're just highlighting the basic Disney+ options and the Disney+ with Hulu added choices.

Disney+ basic (with ads) is $7.99/month
Disney+ Premium (ad-free) is $13.99/month
Duo Basic (Hulu + Disney+ with ads) is $9.99/month
Duo Premium (Hulu + Disney+ ad-free) is $19.99/month

If you're only getting Disney+ so you can watch The Greatest Showman , then we recommend getting the Disney+ basic or Disney+ Premium, as the movie isn't on Hulu.

Honestly, if all you want to do is watch the movie, it would be cheaper to rent it from a digital retailer like Amazon or Apple where the cost is just $3.89 to rent the movie in Ultra HD.

See The Greatest Showman stars in more projects

The cast of The Greatest Showman has been virtually unstoppable since the premiere of the 2017 movie musical. Considering the cast includes Zac Efron, Hugh Jackman, Zendaya, and Rebecca Ferguson, that's not all that surprising. But all of them have been in exciting projects since the film's premiere.

Right now, Zendaya is coming off of her Dune: Part Two press tour alongside Ferguson, who also stars in the movie. Now Zendaya is currently promoting her next buzzy film, Challengers . Meanwhile, Efron just had a great 2023 with his acclaimed movie The Iron Claw and recently he starred alongside John Cena in the Amazon film Ricky Stanicky .

As for Jackman, you'll be seeing a lot of him in the coming months as he begins promoting his big superhero film Deadpool + Wolverine with Ryan Reynolds.

This article was originally published on netflixlife.com as Is The Greatest Showman on Netflix? .

Screen Rant

“i got phone calls”: rebecca ferguson unpacks strong reactions to her screaming co-star story.

Actress Rebecca Ferguson explains the strong reactions to her experience with mistreatment by a former co-star, a story which causes a media frenzy.

Rebecca Ferguson explains the fallout surrounding her sharing a story about her mistreatment by a co-star.
Maintaining control over her narrative, Ferguson stands by her story despite co-stars attempting to distance themselves from it.
Ferguson's accusations sparked online speculation, with prominent actors like Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt initially rumored to be the co-star in question, but were later dismissed.

Rebecca Ferguson speaks on the strong reactions to her previous story about a screaming co-star. Ferguson is an acclaimed actress known for her roles in films such as Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and The Greatest Showman . The actor has had a strong year already, as she recently played Lady Jessica in Dune: Part Two , a sci-fi sequel that has been met with massive success.

Appearing on The Jess Cagle Show , Ferguson spoke out on her previous accusations regarding a co-worker. According to the actress, her story resulted in “ amazing co-stars ” calling her up to make Ferguson understand the frenzy she had caused. Ferguson maintained the importance of telling her story, saying “ my story is my story .” She also re-explained some of her reasoning behind telling the story in the first place, noting what drew her to the interviewer’s question. Check out the full quote from Ferguson below:

Ferguson: Number one, yes, I kind of enjoyed the grab. But what I realized even at the age that I am now — 21 — is it doesn’t matter. I definitely think I’m much more open. I also know where my boundaries are. But the point of the interview wasn’t about finding the person — of course, people will be interested. But I was excited about the question, which was a very good question by [Josh Smith]. Because the point was: Is there a point in your career where you were treated in a way where you changed your decision on — this is how I formulated it in myself — where you want change, or you will not accept it? And it was such a clear moment for me working with this person. But I got phone calls from amazing co-stars who I’ve worked with going, ‘You understand what you’ve done, right?!' And I was like, ‘Oh my God. No, I didn’t think.’ I mean, it’s not my responsibility, to be honest. I don’t really care. You know, ‘You’re great, but my story is my story, and if you’re a good person, then don’t worry about it.’ Cagle (host): The person was Meryl Steep, and everybody knows it. Ferguson [jokingly]: Dammit!

The Rebecca Ferguson Former Co-Star Drama (And Aftermath) Explained

The Ferguson story in question came from an interview in where Ferguson recalled that “ an absolute idiot ” co-star once mistreated her on set by screaming at her. She did not reveal the identity of this co-star, and even used gender-neutral language that left it open as to who the person might be. For example, Ferguson said “ this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out ,” which added relevant context to the story without any identification.

Need More Rebecca Ferguson After Dune 2? Apple TV+ Has A Thrilling Sci-Fi Adaptation Show For You

This vagueness led to massive speculation online as to who the perpetrator might be. Some of the potential candidates were Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, Hugh Jackman, Emily Blunt, and Hugh Grant. Johnson was one of the first to discount his own involvement, saying that his former Hercules co-star was “ a guardian angel sent from heaven .” Johnson noted fervor against the person who did this, wanting to track them down.

Rebecca Ferguson's upcoming work includes a sci-fi film called Mercy .

Cruise and Jackman were both later discounted as the culprit in this case. Blunt’s culpability was dismissed by her team after the speculation over the Girl on the Train co-stars. A representative from the team wrote that “ Rebecca and Emily are friends and there’s nothing but love between them .” These dismissals from former cast members are a good example of what Ferguson is claiming in her most recent interview. Because of the media frenzy surrounding her story, even well-meaning cast members jumped on the opportunity to erase their responsibilities.

Source: The Jess Cagle Show

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Rebecca Ferguson 'Got Phone Calls from Amazing Costars' After Her Viral Story of 'Idiot' Actor Who 'Screamed' at Her

"If you're a good person then don't worry about it," said the actress

John Nacion/Getty

Rebecca Ferguson is addressing her recent viral comments about an unnamed "absolute idiot of a costar."

While on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show , the Dune: Part Two actress, 40, said she was "not expecting" so many people on the internet speculating and trying to identify the A-list former cast mate.

"The point of the interview wasn't about finding the person. Of course people will be interested," she said.

"But what I was excited about the question — it was a very good question by him, because the point was, 'Is there a point in your career where you were treated in a way where you changed your decision on either (this is how I formulated it in myself) you want change or you will not accept it, etcetera. And it was such a clear moment for me, working with this person."

Ferguson added that she received several calls about what she said in the interview.

"I got phone calls from amazing costars who I've worked with going, 'You understand what you've done, right?' And I was like, 'Oh my God. No, I didn't... I didn't think....' " said Ferguson.

Daniele Venturelli/Getty

"I mean, it's not my responsibility, to be honest — I don't really care," she continued. "You're great, but my story is my story, and if you're a good person then don't worry about it."

It was on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast in February that Ferguson said she was once "screamed at" by an actor who was "number one on a call sheet." Ferguson said "no one had my back" at the time and she "would cry walking off set." Until she said she confronted the person despite being "so scared."

"I looked at this person and I said, ‘You can eff off. I’m gonna work towards a tennis ball. I never want to see you again,' " she said, later adding, "From that moment, I have never let myself get to a point where I've got home and gone, 'Why did that happen?' "

During that interview, Ferguson clarified that it was not Hugh Jackman, whom she worked with on Greatest Showman and Reminiscence, nor Tom Cruise, her Mission: Impossible costar. When host Cagle joked on the recent appearance that it was Meryl Streep from their film Florence Foster Jenkins , Ferguson laughed and joked, "Damnit! I didn't think it would come out!"

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Dwayne Johnson publicly spoke out about Ferguson , his costar from 2014's Hercules , and the story she recounted.

"Hate seeing this but love seeing her stand up to bulls---. Rebecca was my guardian angel sent from heaven on our set. I love that woman," wrote Johnson, 51, on X. "I’d like to find out who did this."

Additionally, a rep for Emily Blunt , who worked with Ferguson on 2016's The Girl on the Train , denied that the actress was the unnamed costar from the story, telling the Daily Mail in February, "Rebecca and Emily are friends and there’s nothing but love between them."

Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal go into bloody battle in epic first 'Gladiator 2' footage

LAS VEGAS – Are you not entertained? Well then, you haven't watched Paul Mescal battle vicious bloodthirsty apes and a charging rhino in a Roman arena yet.

The epic first footage from director Ridley Scott's sequel "Gladiator II" (in theaters Nov. 22) premiered Thursday during a Paramount presentation at CinemaCon – appropriately in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace – and didn't disappoint in terms of swords-and-sandals action and drama.

Mescal plays Lucius, a young slave who rises to become a champion, though Russell Crowe's Maximus (from 2001 best picture winner "Gladiator") is not forgotten, as Lucius views him as a hero. (Maximus' sword is even hung on a wall in his honor.) Denzel Washington co-stars as a power player who assigns gladiators to their fights, though has anti-authority leanings and digs Lucius' vibe. "Your rage is a gift," he tells Lucius.

Connie Nielsen returns as Lucila while Joseph Quinn ("Stranger Things") debuts as co-emperor Caracalla – an unhinged ruler who makes Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus seem sane and reasoning. The sneak peek showed Pedro Pascal as a conquering warrior returning after battle, and Caracalla wants to host some deadly gladiator games for his homecoming. But Pascal's character is weary of sacrificing young men to war, adding to a whiff of overall rebellion in the air.

In a video message, Scott promised the conference of theater owners that the sequel will be "well worth the wait. It’s possibly even more extraordinary than the first." Mescal, whose Lucius fights humans and wild animals alike, called working on the film "one of the standout moments in my life to date" and Washington added that it's got "emotion, action (and) spectacle unlike anything else on screen this year."

Coming soon: Edgar Wright's 'The Running Man,' G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover, new musical from 'South Park' creators and Kendrick Lamar

Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry were on hand at CinemaCon to debut the first look at the animated "Transformers: One" (Sept. 13), which features Hemsworth and Henry as franchise faves Optimus Prime and Megatron in their early days before they were foes. (The cast also includes Scarlett Johansson and Keegan-Michael Key.)

Theater owners also got a sneak peek at "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" (Dec. 20), which features the debut of speedy new antagonist Shadow, and a freaky first trailer for the horror sequel "Smile 2" (Oct. 18), starring Naomi Scott ("Aladdin") as a popular pop star haunted by eerily grinning fans and friends alike.

Additionally, Paramount announced a bunch of projects in the works for release in 2025 and 2026:

◾ An untitled movie from director Damien Chazelle ("La La Land").

◾ A "Star Trek" origin adventure directed by Toby Haynes ("Andor") and produced by J.J. Abrams.

◾ A new take on "The Running Man" directed by Edgar Wright and featuring Glen Powell.

◾ A reboot of "The Naked Gun" starring Liam Neeson.

◾ A G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover movie.

◾ The musical "Better Man" by Michael Gracey ("The Greatest Showman").

◾ An R-rated, live-action adaptation of the graphic novel "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin."

◾ A new installment of the horror spoof "Scary Movie" franchise.

◾ An original musical by Kendrick Lamar and "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Cast & crew

An original musical from the director of The Greatest Showman, Michael Gracey. An original musical from the director of The Greatest Showman, Michael Gracey. An original musical from the director of The Greatest Showman, Michael Gracey.

Michael Gracey
Oliver Cole
Simon Gleeson
Damon Herriman
Steve Pemberton
Kate Mulvany

Liam Head, Jake Simmance, Chase Vollenweider, Jesse Hyde, and Jonno Davies in Better Man (2025)

Natalie Appleton

Nicole Appleton

Gary Barlow

LA CAGE Clubber

Blackpool Radio Contestant

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Viral TikTok Has Zendaya Showing Off Her Best ‘Serve’ On The Red Carpet, And Fans Are Living For It

Zendaya has a perfect red carpet "serve."

Zendaya looking forward while wearing a strapless blue dress in Challengers.

The upcoming sports film Challengers is set to show Zendaya taking on a different kind of role. Not only will her character, Tashi, navigate a love triangle involving two other tennis players, but she'll also show off some athleticism on the court. With that, the character has an excellent "serve." On the red carpet though, the Golden Globe winner also recently gave fans a taste of her best “serve," and fans are downright loving it.

At the UK premiere of Challengers , Zendaya brought her own type of A-game while walking the red carpet. The Euphoria actress gave tennis net in the best possible way, as she wore a pleated netted skirt and fabric with tennis racquets all over it. In between slaying the crowd with her method dressing and adorably waving at BF Tom Holland while at the event, the A-lister was asked by a reporter to show off her best serve impression. She did just that, though it may not have been exactly what the interviewer was expecting. Watch this viral TikTok below of the Emmy winner’s answer to this question in the best way she knew how:

@dailymailshowbiz ♬ original sound - Daily Mail Celeb

Now, that’s a serve we can all appreciate! The fashionista always knows how to create a moment on the red carpet, specifically when it comes to "serving" up a look. Also, why perform a cheesy tennis move during the premiere when the Spider-Man: No Way Home actress has an original move of her own to wow us with? I’m not the only one whose day was made seeing the star bring her own prowess to the premiere. TikTok users were living for the former Disney Channel star’s “serve," and you can see their comments below:

My girl always serves 💘 - Shrina☺️
That face card NEVER declines mama - P
I mean.... As always, iconic. - explain.the.joke
Zendaya will forever be that girl. - Jayme Hammond
@kaylee SHE HEARD SERVE AND KNEW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO 😛😛😛 - Diego<3

You love to see all off the fan support for the actress, and I'd imagine that many of them will be seated in theaters when her latest flick opens. While the actress-singer has already been lauded for her convincing performance as a tennis prodigy, filming the production wasn't always easy for her. Zendaya admitted she hated working out in preparation for her Challengers role. But, since her character is supposed to be a tennis pro, she knew that meant getting into shape like one. Luckily, the Greatest Showman actress had a team of people there to help her in that department.

With all of that training she did for the movie, one has to wonder if she's not so eager to perform any additional tennis poses or moves. We can leave that to her co-star, Mike Faist, whose training came more naturally for him compared to his co-stars.

Tashi probably would have chosen to show her best tennis serve on the red carpet. But consider me impressed that Zendaya herself gave us a flavor of her own by striking a pose that's taking TikTok by storm. If you’re all the more psyched to see what critics are calling a “blisteringly sexy” grand slam , know that Challengers hits theaters on April 26 as part of the 2024 movie schedule .

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Rebecca Ferguson Shares Major Update on Silo's Future at Apple TV+

Rebecca Ferguson knows what the future holds for her wildly successful sci-fi series, Silo, on Apple TV+.

The Rebecca Ferguson -led science fiction series, Silo , has been a massive hit for Apple TV+. The show has so far produced two seasons, and according to Ferguson, could run for two more.

Speaking with Collider about Silo , Ferguson revealed that the current plan is for Silo to conclude after its fourth season, which has yet to receive an official greenlight from Apple TV+. "I believe that the show has an ending, and I know when that is. So that's the answer. You will find out when the show is done. To be honest, I don't think it's a secret. The books are the books. It's three books, and the three books are divided into four seasons," she explained. "So I believe, unless any Apple person is gonna jump on, I think we're absolutely fine with saying Season 1, we've done. Season 2 is shot and coming out, and we're now looking at green-lighting Seasons 3 and 4. And I think we would film them maybe together, and that would be the end."

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What is silo about.

Created by Graham Yost, Silo is a sci-fi drama television series based on author Hugh Howey's trilogy of novels — Wool , Shift , and Dust . The series is set in a dystopian future where a community exists in a giant underground silo comprising 144 levels, following Juliette Nichols (Ferguson), an engineer who becomes embroiled in the mysteries of its past and present. Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Common, Tim Robbins, Harriet Walter, Avi Nash, Rick Gomez, and Chinaza Uche round out the main cast.

The first season of Silo consisted of 10 episodes, which were released weekly on Apple TV+ from May 5, 2023, to June 30, 2023. The first season received positive reviews from critics, who praised the world-building, production design, and Ferguson's performance. A second season was ordered, and began filming, in June 2023. After suspending production due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, filming resumed that December and wrapped in March 2024.

'Let's Manifest It': Alien: Romulus Star Wants to Join Another Major Sci-Fi Franchise

Rebecca ferguson joins chris pratt in new sci-fi thriller.

Ferguson is best known for starring as MI6 agent Ilsa Faust in three Mission: Impossible films — Rogue Nation (2015), Fallout (2018), and Dead Reckoning (2023) — and as Lady Jessica in Denis Villeneuve's two-part film adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune . She has also appeared in The Greatest Showman (2017) and Reminiscence (2021), both opposite Hugh Jackman, and in the Stephen King adaptation, Doctor Sleep (2019). The next movie she will be part of will be the Amazon MGM Studios sci-fi thriller, Mercy , opposite Chris Pratt, Kali Reis, and Annabelle Wallis. The movie is set to begin production this spring with Timur Bekmambetov directing from a screenplay written by Marco van Belle.

Silo Season 1 is currently streaming on Apple TV+. A premiere date for Season 2 has not yet been announced.

Source: Collider

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The Greatest Showman movie review (2017)
"The Greatest Showman," directed with verve and panache by Michael Gracey, is an unabashed piece of pure entertainment, punctuated by 11 memorable songs composed by Oscar- and Tony-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who composed the songs for "La La Land," as well as the current Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen.
The Greatest Showman
Growing up in the early 1800s, P.T. Barnum displays a natural talent for publicity and promotion, selling lottery tickets by age 12. After trying his hands at various jobs, P.T. turns to show ...
The Greatest Showman Movie Review
Parents need to know that The Greatest Showman is a biographical musical from the songwriters of La La Land that stars Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, who starts out as a penniless orphan but becomes the world-renowned creator of the circus. There's a bit of language ("damn," the racial slur "spooks," "oh God!," etc.) and violence (protesters burn down the circus, a man slaps a young boy), as ...
Review: In 'The Greatest Showman,' a P.T. Barnum Smaller Than Life
The Greatest Showman. Directed by Michael Gracey. Biography, Drama, Musical. PG. 1h 45m. By Jason Zinoman. Dec. 20, 2017. Early in "The Greatest Showman," P.T. Barnum, played with gung-ho ...
The Greatest Showman
Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 16, 2022. The movie is a big, loud explosion of color and excitement but one the party's over, somebody's got to clean it all up. Full Review | Original ...
Film Review: 'The Greatest Showman'
Film Review: 'The Greatest Showman' ... The movie then flashes back to the 1820s, when Phineas Taylor Barnum is just a kid (played by Ellis Rubin, who suggests a hungry young Pete Townshend ...
The Greatest Showman (2017)
The Greatest Showman: Directed by Michael Gracey. With Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya. Celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.
'The Greatest Showman': Film Review
Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum in 'The Greatest Showman,' a family musical inspired by the life of the legendary 19th-century ringmaster, which also features Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and Zendaya.
The Greatest Showman review
The Greatest Showman review - Hugh Jackman puts on a show in cheesy, charming musical. ... It's a movie which in some ways resembles Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge from 2001: a celebratory and ...
'The Greatest Showman': Review
'The Greatest Showman': Review By Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic 2017-12-20T08:01:00+00:00 Hugh Jackman stars as 19th century entertainer P.T. Barnum in this musical extravaganza
The Greatest Showman
The Greatest Showman is the feel-good (and feel good about it) movie every holiday season needs. P.T. Barnum is famous for saying there's a sucker born every minute and he's still right. For 105 minutes I'm a sucker for his movie, that may not be the greatest show on Earth but close enough.
The Greatest Showman
Movie Review. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Well, take out the lions, tigers and bears, then and add an elephant, an unlikely gang of misfits and a ring master and you've got … the circus. But a circus isn't born overnight. An no one knows that better than Phineas Taylor Barnum, better known as P.T. Barnum.
The Greatest Showman
The Greatest Showman is a 2017 American biographical musical drama film directed by Michael Gracey (in his directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, and a story by Bicks.The film stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya.Featuring nine original songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a score ...
The Greatest Showman Review
Published on 20 12 2017. Release Date: 25 Dec 2017. Running Time: 95 minutes. Original Title: The Greatest Showman. A year ago, La La Land was hailed as the saviour of the movie musical, but it ...
The Greatest Showman Review
The Greatest Showman Review Hugh Jackman probably is the greatest showman alive, but the movie of the same name doesn't provide an amazing venue for that talent. By David Crow | December 21, 2017 |
The Greatest Showman Review
The movie serves as a biopic of P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman), a broke but inventive showman who risks it all -- and suffers severe growing pains -- to establish a circus of special talents meant to ...
The Greatest Showman (2017)
The Greatest Showman is a movie in moments, many of them great many more of them flaccid and empty. We're whisked through P.T.'s (Jackman) impoverished childhood in a single bound before settling on his happy marriage with wife Charity (Williams), and his two daughters (Johnson and Seely) who have grown to see their father as a hero.
The Greatest Showman Review
The Greatest Showman is a disjointed, glossy, sugar-coated mess that just skates by on Jackman's natural charm and charisma.. The Greatest Showman has been a passion project for star Hugh Jackman for years, first entering development in 2009. It spent years treading water before finally getting off the ground (director Michael Gracey was hired in 2011), in part due to Fox's reluctance to green ...
Movie Review: The Greatest Showman (2017)
The Greatest Showman is a confusing animal. Its opening frames begin the movie by displaying the familiar and orchestral 20th Century Fox logo used from the 50s through the 80s, implying the audience is in for a reverent throwback to the classic Hollywood musicals of yore.
The Greatest Showman review
An aerial song-and-dance sequence between slumming toff Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron) and trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (Zendaya) is a giddy joy. And Hugh Jackman is clearly having an absolute ball in ...
Movie Review
I understood The Greatest Showman's tone from its opening scene alone: a flashy, over the top performance of extravagant wonders, headed by Hugh Jackman's charismatic vocals. It wasn't a ...
The Greatest Showman reviews: Hugh Jackman musical gets mixed response
"The Greatest Showman, a montage sequence that occasionally turns into a movie musical, steers clear of any contemporary resonance and ignores meaty themes. The first-time director Michael Gracey ...
Is The Greatest Showman on Netflix?
The Greatest Showman. has been virtually unstoppable since the premiere of the 2017 movie musical. Considering the cast includes Zac Efron, Hugh Jackman, Zendaya, and Rebecca Ferguson, that's not ...
"I Got Phone Calls": Rebecca Ferguson Unpacks Strong Reactions To Her
Rebecca Ferguson speaks on the strong reactions to her previous story about a screaming co-star.Ferguson is an acclaimed actress known for her roles in films such as Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and The Greatest Showman.The actor has had a strong year already, as she recently played Lady Jessica in Dune: Part Two, a sci-fi sequel that has been met with massive success.
Rebecca Ferguson Got Phone Calls from Costars After Viral Story of
Rebecca Ferguson is addressing her recent viral comments about an unnamed "absolute idiot of a costar." While on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show, the Dune: Part Two actress, 40, said she was "not ...
'Gladiator 2' first footage: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal get bloody
A new installment of the horror spoof "Scary Movie" franchise. An original musical by Kendrick Lamar and "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Paul Mescal goes into battle in the first ...
Better Man (2025)
Better Man: Directed by Michael Gracey. With Damon Herriman, Steve Pemberton, Kate Mulvany, Alison Steadman. The life and experiences of singer Robbie Williams.
Viral TikTok Has Zendaya Showing Off Her Best 'Serve ...
Luckily, the Greatest Showman actress had a team of people there to help her in that department. With all of that training she did for the movie, one has to wonder if she's not so eager to perform ...
Rebecca Ferguson Shares Major Update on Silo's Future at Apple TV+
She has also appeared in The Greatest Showman (2017) and Reminiscence (2021), both opposite Hugh Jackman, and in the Stephen King adaptation, Doctor Sleep (2019). The next movie she will be part of will be the Amazon MGM Studios sci-fi thriller, Mercy, opposite Chris Pratt, Kali Reis, and Annabelle Wallis. The movie is set to begin production ...
Petition · Get the Greatest Showman on Broadway!
The Greatest Showman is a movie musical (available on Disney+) set in 19th century New York City about famous ringleader/showman P.T. Barnum. After marrying childhood sweetheart Charity Hallett and raising two daughters, Helen and Caroline, he still wanted something more. When securing a bank loan and buying out an empty building, he opens ...

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