Yeah, I'm not really sure why Marshall and Weinstein were so obsessed with replicating 8 1/2 when NINE merely uses 8 1/2 as a gateway to tell a completely different story. I actually truly enjoy the movie even though I know it's pretty terrible, I'm just a sucker for the material and those actresses. Yes, cutting "Getting Tall" was a mind boggling move, but to me, the most perplexing thing about the film is the fact they did away with the fact Guido is working on a musical! Which, you know, completely explains the fact these characters are singing, especially if Marshall and co were so worried about why these characters would sing. It just didn't make any sense at all, same with casting Judi Dench as Lilliane, what a misguided choice. Ahh.
I agree re Penelope Cruz, she "gets" it (though don't get me started on the awful ending they gave her character). And I know people don't like her singing, but I adored Marion Cotillard in this movie and think she was robbed of an Oscar nomination. But God, Daniel Day-Lewis was so utterly miscast, he was insanely pretentious without any musicality; it not only didn't make sense that he sings, but it definitely didn't make sense why he'd imagine things in terms of musical numbers (which fit so beautifully with Roxie in CHICAGO).
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
