Film Review: The Greatest Showman Tries To Sell You Hope, Are You Buying?

Directed by Michael Gracey, The Greatest Showman is not a film for everyone or every time, in part, because it aims for the surrealism of joy/ hope. It lives in a musical land where even PT Barnum (played by the always exceptional Hugh Jackman) was a good, earnest man and not an animal abuser/racist businessman with a penchant for hoaxes. While Barnum was a darker, more complex/ cruel person than Jackman’s portrayal if you remember that this film is meant for family fun…. you might just have it.
The Greatest Showman | “Come Alive” Live Performance | 20th Century FOX

At the epicenter of The Greatest Showman is Jackman’s performance. He drips with an eager charm, and a determination to sell the whimsical nature of this film. He such a magnet on the screen that you follow him through his tale, and might even want PT Barnum, of all people, to succeed. While Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon have created a script/ story that aims for the magic of hope and striving for more, in these times, it may not be the easiest sell. Isn’t that ironic? Nowadays, marketing hope and dreaming big can be embittering, but it is on those particular markers that The Greatest Showman has built its foundation, which is why it is happy to be “wonderfully cliche” and “cheesy”.

Absolutely every scene or “emotional gripe” is in place to lead into a breakout, musical number written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, of which I say, “Yay!”. I cannot deny my not so secret fantasy or my sincere belief that life would be better if even a word led to public singing and dancing, particularly if Rebecca Ferguson (playing Jenny Lind) led the chorus. I truly affirm there would be no war if we all just approached life and conversation like, a musical (Discuss!). In essence, The Greatest Showman has the same idea; hence, you are supposed to believe Zac Efron’s wealthier, white Philip Carlyle and Zendaya’s acrobatic, young, and black Anne Wheeler are going to have very little, easy to overcome or, actually, NO problems with their interracial relationship in late 1800’s USA. Yet, it is that kind of social fantasy, which makes The Greatest Showman oddly sweet, especially when it comes to their love story/ musical numbers, but troubling for those that know the real history behind Barnum. 

I wish the circus had a history of kindness to its performers and animals. I would love it if interracial relationships were never a problem. Moreover, I would gladly reincarnate if life was a musical where hard-work and sheer vision were enough to scale you upwards into societal positions of power. Yet, that is not reality, which is why some will LOVE The Greatest Showman, and others will not. You cannot take away the film is visually glamorous, and open with its goal; to make you believe/ hope in happy endings. The problem is not everybody is so easy to make-believe, especially if they do not think they should, particularly, about history’s atrocious aspects. Thus, if you go, consider bringing your kids; they are always are open to imagination, but one day…. they will/ should learn the truth!  The Greatest Showman Is In Theaters On December 20.