It’s a slick, entertaining, all-singing, all-dancing old-fashioned musical of the life of one of the greatest of all showmen – impressario P.T. Barnum.
The founder of the modern circus, according to The Greatest Showman, the innovative Barnum (Hugh Jackman in a role he was born to play) overcame poverty, married for love (Michelle Williams) and tapped into the fascination of the bizarre by setting up a circus of morbid curiosities and ‘freaks’. Success follows, but in wanting acceptance by polite society, Barnum almost bankrupts himself and his marriage by touring the Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson) around America.
Sanitised to make it a family spectacle, The Greatest Showman, even with its patchy soundtrack, stirs the heart with its acceptance of difference and diversity, even if, at the end of the day, it’s shamelessly old-fashioned and predictable.
Nominated for 1 Oscar in 2018 for best original song.
Rating: 58%
Director: Michael Gracey
Writer: Jenny Bicks (Rio 2, TV’s Sex & the City), Bill Condon (Kinsey, Chicago)
Main cast: Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables, Wolverine), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Manchester by the Sea), Zac Efron (Baywatch, The Paperboy)
(The sad thing about the film is that its telling is very far from the truth, with Barnum early in his career dubiously involved in loopholes in the slave trade, did not come from a poor background and he made almost $15 million in today’s money from the Lind tour. There’s poetic license and then there’s poetic license).
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