Funny Face...?

So, I just watched Funny Face.

And... I really thought I would simply adore it, like I do Roman Holiday.
 My friends, I did NOT.

While I can't say I completely despised the movie, I must say that I didn't really understand it (Hence the title of this post).
Let me start at the beginning.
Dick Avery (Fred Astair) is a big photographer for one of America's leading fashion magazines: Quality.
The magazine has been sagging a bit lately, so the president has decided to go all out with the new styles to influence the women of America.
During a photography session, they are using a dismal old bookstore to contrast the bright colors of the models, much upsetting the clerk, Jo Stockton, who is played by Audrey Hepburn.
Needing still a fresher look on the content of their magazine, Dick wants to make Jo the clerk a new fashion model, to represent the styles of Quality Magazine.
In other words, they take a plain old ragamuffin and turn her into a beauty model. We've heard it before. Jo finally agrees when she finds out that becoming a model for the magazine would mean a trip to Paris, where her idolized philosopher lives.

And so, they go to Paris, and there's some singing, and some dancing, and some kissing, a few 'Bonjour!'s here and there, and all that stuff.
It ends, of course, with the same 'happily ever after' that we all expect from most old movies.

I LIKED: The Costumes
Audrey plays a model, so that means dresses, and firs, and hats, and shoes, and make-up jobs, and hair styles, and I could go on and on.
We had some lovely outfits here, let me tell you! Edith Head did the costumes, so you KNOW they're good.

 I love this dress because it's so SUNSHINY, you know?

 This dress. THE SWISHY-NESS.

I really like the veil that goes with this dress.

I DISLIKED: The Music. And the singing.
I'm not completely against musicals. I promise, I'm not.  I like 'Singin' in the Rain', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'The Sound of Music', and a few selected others. 
But, I think that some musicals would be vastly improved if they just weren't musicals. 
This movie.
This was one of those. 
Though I love Fred Astair, and you can't rightly have a Fred Astair movie with no dancing,  sometimes, to be honest, there's just too much. 
Every time I watch a musical, I can't help thinking of all the story development that could be happening during the time it takes to sing all those songs! I felt that way while watching Funny Face during more than one scene. We had scene after scene of dancing, with characters talking like normal human beings only whenever there was an opening in between dance numbers.

 

I LOVED this dress though. :)

Which brings me to the next problem. A lot of musicals, I feel, don't have the best (or a lot of) plot. Why? Because they sing for half the movie! It's like they don't have time to tell a good story because they're too busy dancing. 
That's the trouble I had with Easter Parade (which is also and Astair movie... don't get me wrong, I LOVE Fred. It's not HIM I have trouble with at all). Singing, and dancing... and then more singing and dancing...  eeesh.
I want plot and characters, people.
Occasional dance numbers? Ok. 
But stop singing so much, golly! I mean, sttttaaaahhhppp.

And THIS PART. In the Paris cafe with those weird guys and all the smoke and the lights, and then Audrey started dancing...in a very strange way... it was SO WEIRD. 
We skipped most of it. :P

 
I LIKED: Audrey and Fred. :)
I don't think I'll ever dislike these two... no matter what movies they are in. They both posses so much talent. Fred with his dancing and singing, Audrey with her charming acting abilities. Really, they are two of my favorites. :)  
 

I love this pic. :)

 

Those LASHES. My gosh!

I DISLIKED: The Plot. Or, most of it. And not just the lack of it.
In spite of having very little plot at all, like I mentioned above, unfortunately what plot there WAS, wasn't very intriguing.
 I'm sorry, but when I watch a good romance, it should be really... really romantic, you know? It's the story that makes you love the characters, and then you love it when they fall in love, and you cry when something comes between them (or when one of them dies). 
You want to see them happy together.
I mean, when I watch a movie that says it's a 'comedy romance', you better give me comedy and romance that will make me melt into a puddle of blissful happiness, or you have failed your objective! 
 

Pretty sure this line has been used a hundred million times in all kinds of stories.

THIS PICTURE. THAT BLUE. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Ok, one last thing. I LIKED: All the lovely photography scenes.
The sessions when Fred is taking pictures of her, and we're going from one beautiful scene to the next, while she's posing in gorgeous costumes, and there's NO SINGING OR DANCING. I just loved those parts. They were just so colorful and blissful and gosh I loved them. I was sad when they were through. :(     

SO. You see my thoughts.
 Overall: Very colorful movie. Great talent and a few enjoyable moments, but I don't think I'll watch it again. :P
-Phoebe  
To finish, I'm giving you a dancing gif of Fred. Because I can.

Not sure what movie this is from . : /

 Have you seen 'Funny Face'? What do you think of it? Do you think that it's wanting something?