What Went Wrong with the NINE Film?

In addition to the miscasting of several key roles and the fact that the added songs were nowhere near as good as the ones they replaced, the film never quite nailed the musical's rueful tone. It often felt like an empty pageant -- but what else would you expect from Rob Marshall?

Marshall's conceit- of all the musical numbers being fantasy- just didn't work here like it did in Chicago. Coupled with a very miscast Day-Lewis and Kidman, inexplicable plot changes, and a score that was hacked to bits, you got a very mish-mashed film.

I think Fergie and Cruz were the best elements.

I think Cotillard did a very good job in a role that was terribly reconceived for the movie.

What went wrong, as several have suggested, is they hired Rob Marshall (I suspect the things that worked so well in "Chicago" have a lot more to do with Bill Condon's screenplay than Marshall's direction).

Cutting most of the score of the second act certainly didn't help.

I long ago concluded that Kate Hudson's big production number was the single worst number in movie history. It was painful to sit through. Goes to a point, however...why mess with so much great material, especially when you ate going to replace it with drek (back to Kates's number). I also liked Cotillard's final number, but it paled next to the original. I guess they were trying to get a best song Oscar.

I thought that a number of the cast were fine, but Nicole Kidman -- who I normally love -- was terribly miscast; everything to do with Kate Hudson was embarrassing (and not her fault, other than for accepting the role); and I didn't even like Cruz, because I thought her role was even sillier than in the show. I got tired of the artsy cinematography, which I am sure was intended to evoke 8 1/2, but was just annoying to me.

I thought Day-Lewis was good, but I would have preferred to see Antonio Banderas, who was shattering IMO in the Broadway revival. Probably wouldn't have made a difference, since the movie was so bad,

I would like to disagree with the person who dissed Rob Marshall. I saw the movie two days ago and thought his concept / direction was great. I thought that Polanski deserved the Oscar that year, but I would have supported Marshall a lot of other years.

Simple: they didn't film Nine; they remade 8½, and sprinkled it with songs. Also, Rob Marshall's a one-trick pony, much like the stager he emulated most closely in his early work (Fosse).

I like the film's aesthetic but I did not like the film. At least it got the time period right- the stage version is nominally New Wave Italian Cinema but seems to be written as late 1920s/early 1930s, the early days of color and sound.

As a film it fails, but as a series of music videos, I find it enjoyable. Fergie sings the crap out of Be Italian.

I enjoy the movie in pieces. The Overture is stunningly shot. Cotillard's "My Husband Makes Movies" is great. Cruz's is excellent throughout.

It has no place in the movie, but I love Cinema Italiano...

They needed to move further from Fellini's film, but instead they literally shot it at the same hotel Fellini shot 8 1/2 at.