The Jenny Lind sequence is one of the more laughable and ludicrous sections of ''The Greatest Showman.'' Rebecca Ferguson plays the renowned ''Swedish Nightingale'' with a British accent. (Strange, since she's actually Swedish in real life.) Lind was an opera singer, but here Pasek and Paul have given her a Celine Dion-like pop power ballad. And could the lyrics be more insipidly repetitious? ''These hands could hold the world, but it'll never be enough. Never be enough. For me. Never, never, never, never, never, for me. For me. Never enough. Never enough. Never enough. For me. For me. For me.'' This song ends with a slightly varied reprise: ''These hands could hold the world, but it'll never be enough. Never be enough. For me. Never, never, never, never, never, for me. For me. Never enough. Never, never, never enough, never, never, never enough, for me, for me, for me, for me.''
Shortly thereafter, Barnum is at a party to celebrate Lind's success, and literally slams the door to Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady, and the rest of his human ''oddity'' attractions. He's ashamed to have them mingle with high society. That triggers an angry and defiant Lettie to belt ''This Is Me,'' a pop anthem about self-empowerment and pride. And yet, there is never any followup or dramatic ramification to this scene. Surprisingly, Barnum never tries to explain his actions or betrayal to Lettie (let alone apologize), and the matter is never brought up again. Most movies run about 2 hours. At an hour and 45 minutes, ''The Greatest Showman'' feels too short, as if it's dropped vital book scenes, just so they could hurry along to the next pop-video number, afraid it'll lose the short attention span of an audience weaned on MTV and commercials..
Updated On: 1/2/18 at 01:45 AM
