"Nine" is one of the very few Broadway to Hollywood musicals that I have not
seen on the stage. I did see the movie "8-1/2" which it is based on but that was
back in 1963 and after 47 years I really don't remember much about it except
that the charisma of Marcello Mastroianni shone through. I,
vaguely, remembered a scene with a very buxom Anita
Ekberg in a black gown near, or in, a
fountain but it turns out that was in the movie "La Dolce Vita". In a sense I thought Nicole
Kidman, in Nine, was suppose to be
Anita in 8-1/2 but the former was a pale imitation of the latter.

My movie going in the year
2010 is not off to a good start with this movie. Yes, it is an all star cast
with 8 big names, 7 of them women, and 6 have a big number while 2 have two big
numbers which means 10 musical numbers in all. In  the movie musical "Chicago"
the director Rob Marshall had the musical numbers take place in the imagination
of the players and here he does the same thing only they are all taking place in
Daniel Day Lewis's mind but while it worked in the former movie it doesn't in
the latter. Also, the musical numbers of Maury Yeston don't rank up there with the numbers
by Kanden and Ebb and Marshall's
choreography doesn't equal his work in Chicago.

Of the performers none
'stop' the show though all are more than adequate in the singing and dancing
department while Fergie puts over "Be
Italian" with the best voice of all. I am a great admirer of Daniel Day Lewis
but in his role as Guido he is no match for Marcello in the same role. Penelope
Cruz does a very energetic, "A Call From The Vatican", Judi Dench puts over "Folies Bergere" in her role as Guido's confidante,
Marion Cotillard, as his wife, shows
her winning her Oscar wasn't a fluke. Sophia Loren, the only cast member who not
only was around during the Italian cinema popularity of the 50s and 60s, but was
a star then,  looks great and makes you want to see her in more movies. Kate
Hudson puts some life into "Cinema Italiano", a sort of disco
number.

The failure of the movie is strictly on the
shoulders of Rob Marshall who tries to duplicate the success of Chicago instead
of doing Nine on its own terms. The musical numbers may be entertaining
individually but the direction, choreography and, in particular, the editing of
the whole movie isn't.  The best part of the movie are the closing credits
showing the cast members rehearsing and doing their individual numbers.