The Greatest Showman--Movie Review--The Rare Hollywood Word-of-Mouth Success Story

The Greatest Showman is the rare example of a word of mouth success of a movie in Hollywood. 

 The movie released December 20 and had a rocky start to mediocre reviews and an opening of only $8.8 million, but then it did something almost unheard of in modern Hollywood, it made more money the second weekend.  A lot more.  It grossed 15 million the second weekend, nearly doubling the first weekend.  Most movies go the opposite direction, the second weekend you get a huge drop off.

The question is, why is this?

The movie is simple minded.  It doesn’t tell the exact history.  Kinda glosses over the fact P.T. Barnum exploited a lot of his workers.

But dang it.  

It’s a fun movie.

Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum from the age of 20 or so, until he’s in his mid 40s.  Congrats to Mr. Jackman for still being able to be cast as a 20-year-old.  

Barnum is the sin of tailor, where he meets his future wife, Charity Hallett, in the home of one of his father’s clients.  But when his father unexpectedly passes away and Barnum is now a homeless orphan.  But somehow he still keeps in touch with Charity.

Years later as a young man, Barnum comes to Charity’s family to ask her for hand in marriage, and her father reminds him that she would come crawling back soon.  P.T. and Charity, played by Michelle Williams, build their life as the standard poor but happy family.  Even on the day his loses his job, because his boss’s business went bankrupt.

Barnum is working diligently as a number cruncher, is that job I don’t know, but it’s what he does, when he tries to sell the idea to his boss the idea of a flying machine.  The boss ignores in him and proceeds to tell him everyone is dismissed because the company’s fleet of ships is now at the bottom of ocean.  

Now employed, Barnum uses his free time to dream up a museum of strange things.  Using the some stolen manifest of the fleet from his previous boss, he uses that to secure a loan from the bank.

His museum of strange wax figures is not successful.  Coming home depressed one evening his daughter tells him he needs live things in his museum.  He drafts his first performer a twenty-two year old man who suffers from dwarfism.  Barnum continues to draft people to his cause, by using the large posters he sends out the word that he is looking for people to be in his show.  People of all different attributes arrive.  Fat people, tall people, people covered in hair, people who swing on the trapeze, people who are covered head to toe in tattoos all come to Barnum and he is off and running.

The early days of his show are met with a critical review from the theater critic from the New York Times.  Barnum ignores him because there are so many people coming to his show, which is exactly what has happened in real life with the movie.  The movie hit with poor reviews from proper critics has some how survived and thrived bringing smiles to a lot of people.

Eventually he partners up with Philip Carlyle, played by Zac Efron loosely based on James Bailey, the Bailey in Barnum and Bailey's Circus.  Barnum partners with Carlyle in order to get access to the super wealthy.

The rest of the movie, is pretty predictable.  Barnum becomes more famous.  He begins to ignore his performers.  He eventually gets into trouble with his wife.  So on and so forth.

But the strength of the movie isn’t in the plot.  It’s in the music and the musical numbers.  This is what has given The Greatest Showman it’s word of mouth success.  

Final Thoughts

I recommend seeing this in the theaters before it leaves.  

Directed by first time director Michael Gracy, written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, staring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya, the movie is pure joy and entertainment.

This old-time fun musical is just what everyone needs right now