Fresh and Exciting

best movie i've ever seen.

A Disappointing Continuation

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Unlike other reviewers, I saw this movie in the 80s when it first came out having never seen it on stage first. I was mesmerized! I loved it then and I love it now. As a young person it was my first introduction to the New York Theater scene...now I can see the limitations of the film, but the bones of the movie are perfect. The casting is amazing. Michael Douglas is gorgeous and perfect at Zach; other reviewers don't care for him in the role but I love him. Alyson Reed is luminous and wonderful on the boards. I couldn't choose a favorite character if I tried because each character is well-drawn. YES, I prefer the stage version. But I'm not a musical SNOB...I love the film too. I think it's worth a watch if only for the excellent dance. Don't compare, don't dis, just ENJOY.

this movie is a movie that absolutely everybody has heard of, and it is widely known that this movie is widely viewed in a favorable light.... is this some elaborate cosmic practical joke? this is one of the worst movies ever made. it is terrible. make you angry at your children and dog, terrible. Awful, terrible, horrible.I cannot express clearly enough the awfulness of this movie. ---- without spoiling the "plot" this movie is about actors acting that they are whining about how bone-wrackingly awful acting is to poor under-appreciated downtrodden actors ---- and they do a terrible job, over-acting their miserable poorly written parts. oh, and there is a song.

A director (Michael Douglas) is casting dancers for a production. Large numbers of hopefuls audition, hoping to be selected. Throughout the day, more and more people are eliminated, and the competition gets harder. Eventually, approximately a dozen dancers must compete 'A Chorus Line' is an enjoyable musical which being twenty five years old remains a product of it's time. Richard Attenborough was a surprising choice to direct this 'one'(if you'll pardon the pun!) 'A Chorus Line' was a film i watched as a youngster on VHS and later Television in a horribly pan and scanned version any DVD in it's Original Aspect Ratio of this film is a revelation as you can clearly see all of the dancers as intended as opposed to a mere quarter.

Occasionally, it would appear, I actually do see the same movie as the majority of other posters. This is a case in point. Like many of those who have posted here I saw the stage version albeit in London rather than Broadway and it was light years ahead of this strangely insipid film. Like other posters I question the wisdom of engaging Richard Attenborough to direct a dynamic Broadway musical or engage Michael Douglas to personify what in the stage version was a disembodied voice. In the theatre the finale, 'One', staged if full costume, was a tour de force, because although we had seen fragments of rehearsal it still made an impact like a pile-driver whereas here it is merely a competent, well-drilled routine. There is perhaps some merit or at least interest in a movie musical in which the bulk of the score is performed almost in passing with a couple of solos just for show but overall we're talking major disappointment.