Funny Lady [PG]

The divorce is final and although Nick has claimed that he will always love her, Mrs. Arnstein has gone back to being Fanny Brice, funny lady. Still a great star, Fanny’s career takes a battering when the market goes bad and her theatre cannot afford to put on new shows. By way of her lawyer, Fanny crosses paths with a young buck named Billy Rose who has the money to put on shows and enlists her help. Though getting off to a rocky start, the two work together to put on great shows that revitalises Fanny’s career and starts a new one for Billy. But things are not as simple as they once were when Fanny was just a funny girl. 

The sequel to Funny Girl, Funny Lady just wasn’t as good as its predecessor. The new songs, although being beautiful and superbly performed by Barbra are just not as memorable as those of the first film and I found that everything was just sort of there and half-arsed. There was no great romance, no juicy dramas, a nice bout of comedy, but nothing compared with the first film. Unfortunately, Funny Lady was a bit of a disappointment for me. 

The divorce is final and although Nick has claimed that he will always love her, Mrs. Arnstein has gone back to being Fanny Brice, funny lady. Still a great star, Fanny’s career takes a battering when the market goes bad and her theatre cannot afford to put on new shows. By way of her lawyer, Fanny crosses paths with a young buck named Billy Rose who has the money to put on shows and enlists her help. Though getting off to a rocky start, the two work together to put on great shows that revitalises Fanny’s career and starts a new one for Billy. But things are not as simple as they once were when Fanny was just a funny girl. 

I don’t think that there should have been a sequel made for Funny Girl. That movie itself was a lovely film with gorgeous characters, a great story, and the perfect balance of everything. In this film, although we see some of our beloved characters from the first film, everything is different: everyone is older and that growth and change just has an unfortunate influence on the entire film. 

Barbra’s character is still occasionally funny, but more often than not she’s more dramatic and negatively affected by the dull adult world that now surrounds her. All the characters are like this. I couldn’t warm to the new romantic lead of James Caan either. I just didn’t like him from start to finish. 

Starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Roddy McDowell, Ben Vereen, Carole Wells, and Omar Sharif, Funny Lady is just nowhere near as good as its predecessor; a bit of a shame really. Filled with music, stunning costumes, drama, romance, and comedy, I don’t think that I would watch it again. Funny Girl yes, but not this one.