"Funny Lady" is a better movie than "Funny Girl". All "Funny Girl" does is let Barbra Streisand showcase her singing talent between scenes. You don't care about the other characters or the story. After Streisand, the only other interesting person in the movie is Walter Pidgeon portraying Florenz Ziegfeld.
"Funny Lady" has heart and soul. It is about Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand), who goes on with her career during the depression after her divorce, meets her next husband, Billy Rose, (James Caan) marries him but yearns for her former husband, Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif). This is a tortured love story with music. Most of the musical numbers are set in the shows that Fanny Brice performed in, and that makes sense.
However, there are three musical numbers that are used as dialogue, but are set to music. They work. The two that touched me were: Jimmy Caan singing briefly with Barbra Streisand - they sing sweetly together while falling in like. The best dramatic musical number is when Fanny Brice sings her broken heart out on an empty stage, lamenting the loss of her newly married ex-husband; and Billy Rose watching in pain. This is Streisand's, Caan's, and Sharif's best romantic performances. Of all the leading men Barbra Streisand worked with, James Cann complimented her the best. They should work again as a team. Only the Foreign Press Globes honored this movie with major nominations.
"Funny Lady" has heart and soul. It is about Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand), who goes on with her career during the depression after her divorce, meets her next husband, Billy Rose, (James Caan) marries him but yearns for her former husband, Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif). This is a tortured love story with music. Most of the musical numbers are set in the shows that Fanny Brice performed in, and that makes sense.
However, there are three musical numbers that are used as dialogue, but are set to music. They work. The two that touched me were: Jimmy Caan singing briefly with Barbra Streisand - they sing sweetly together while falling in like. The best dramatic musical number is when Fanny Brice sings her broken heart out on an empty stage, lamenting the loss of her newly married ex-husband; and Billy Rose watching in pain. This is Streisand's, Caan's, and Sharif's best romantic performances. Of all the leading men Barbra Streisand worked with, James Cann complimented her the best. They should work again as a team. Only the Foreign Press Globes honored this movie with major nominations.