Wow. I'd really love to know why such a low IMDB rating. This is one of the best musicals I've seen in a long time. The songs were very melodic, catchy, & some quite clever (namely "Sidestep"), the performances were entertaining without being ridiculous, & the plot had a steady pace without being too long of a movie. I can only think that many people who gave this movie a low rating don't like musicals.
shareWell, I generally don't care for musicals outside of rock operas, and I absolutely love this film from start to finish. I'm baffled why anyone would call this a "bad" film or even a "not very good" film. The songs are terrific, the dancing and acting are magnificent, and the mood is infectious. I don't give away my 10s very easy, but this film qualifies in my book.
shareSaw the film for the first time this weekend with my wife, and we're both equally mystified with respect to the low rating. We agree with all the film's good points reiterated above. Given the title, and the fact that it's a musical with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, it's difficult to see how the film could have been significantly better. We certainly had a very good time, and we were thoroughly entertained (and admittedly even moved at times).
The problem for us was that we checked the IMDb score beforehand, and almost skipped the film (and certainly regretted buying it). While IMDb scores are obviously subjective, there are very few exceptions to the rule "8 and above is good, 6 and below is bad". While I have seen 8+ films that I didn't like, I could at least always see why they got a good score. Not so with this film. More than 1000 people (out of 4400) gave it 1, 2, 3 or 4. What on earth were they expecting? Some films have had IMDb smear campaigns against them ("The Golden Compass" is one example). Is it possible that something like that has happened here?
Anyway, this certainly gets my nomination for "Most underrated film on IMDb".
Kind of shocked about the low rating myself. I just watched this movie and came here to rate it. I gave it an 8, which in my own rating system means it was pretty damned good. I really enjoyed this movie. I'm not making my way through posts here trying to figure out what it was that people didn't like about it.
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Personally, I find the imdb ratings pretty useless (but I'm the type of guy who's favorite films are often rated 5 & 6). In this case, however, there's been a lot of hate directed at the movie because it bears very little resemblance to the highly-lauded stage show. The overall plot is the same, but Miss Mona's role is slight and it focuses more on the Chicken Ranch girls, who've been reduced to nameless extras in the movie. Between the studio's apprehension of the bawdy material and the casting of then-media-sensation Dolly Parton, the story was drastically changed.
shareI love musicals but I don't like this one. The songs all sound the same, except for "Sidestep" (best part) and "I Will Always Love You," which was recorded eight years before this was even made. Burt Reynolds cannot sing, but it looked like he, and everyone else, was having a fun time. This seemed like an R-rated kiddie film with barenaked boobies. It is not possible. The themes were all very adult but the acting was like a live-action cartoon. And way, way too much Dom DeLuise and him reprising his song.
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