I watched this without single blink, it was pure 10/10. And then, when story line was near its natural end, endless train of dancing acts with no sense or connection to the story (at least I did not get it) started and lasted for about 20 minutes. Feeling was the same as when TV station breaks the movie at its peak to annoy you with long set of commercials. I caught myself thinking about other things while checking my nails and taking a look at the clock for the first time since movie started. It completely destroyed the magic. And then in some review I saw this: "One of the film's highlights is its impressive finale - an ambitious, colorful, imaginative, 13 minute avant-garde "dream ballet" costing a half million dollars to produce." - they could spend that money smarter. "The pretentious sequence, featuring an Impressionistic period daydream in the style of various painters, is one of the longest uninterrupted dance sequences of any Hollywood film." - and with this one I completely agree. If I ever decide to watch this again, I'll find version with this crap cut off. I bet someone already did it and posted it somewhere.

An American in Paris seems to be the film that many people have billed a classic so prolifically and impulsively that the brand stuck with very little questioning. A fairly obvious Best Picture win in 1951 coupled with suave, acclaimed leading man Gene Kelly in the starring role of a musical and you have a film that was bound to be a feast for your eyes that you could enjoy with your ears, as well. This is a film so rooted in predictable Hollywood musical fare of the time that if you stare into the decorated setpieces and Kelly's meaningful smile you almost, almost forget how forgettable this film really is.The story revolves around Kelly's Jerry Mulligan, a former Army serviceman from America now trying to make it as an artist in the dreamlike land of Paris, selling portraits on sidewalks and streetcorners. One of the first people to really pay attention to his works is Milo Roberts (Nina Foch), a woman who falls for him and his attitude almost immediately, so much so that she rents a studio for him to sell his artwork in a more professional manner. Jerry, however, becomes more infatuated with Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron), a French woman he meets at a nightclub that he begins to actively pursue, despite her repeated attempts to make him go away (a standoffish personality, a fake phone number, etc). As Milo still tries to assist him, Jerry is hellbent on getting Lise to love him.In addition to Jerry, we are introduced to two people in the beginning of the film in a manner that sort of overstates the importance of these characters. One is Adam Cook (Oscar Levant), a struggling concert pianist who often works alongside Henri Baurel (Georges Guétary), a French lounge-singer. These two men, despite being introduce din the opening minutes of the film with Jerry's long monologue about his love for Paris even though he is an American, don't hold much weight come the hour-mark of the film, when An American in Paris largely turns to embellishing the rather awkward relationship between Jerry and Lise.Jerry and Lise's relationship is made awkward not only because of the fact that Lise really lacks personality outside of a pretty face and doesn't give us much of a reason to really concern ourselves with her presence, a feat that was so ubiquitous during this time in Hollywood that you almost can't critique it, but the annoying way Jerry becomes entranced with her off of what is ultimately just a vessel of beauty. An American in Paris really shows how far we, as a society, have become with how we approach women; what was once seen as an effort of true charm and persistency is now seen as offputting and creepy by the majority of women, despite whatever intention was assumed by the male. Jerry's intentions have far wandered past romantic and are entering in the aforementioned latter territory, though that doesn't seem to particularly concern him nor anyone else in the film.Once more, it's almost meaningless to bring this up because so many films had the same kind of masculine attitude towards females (I just watched His Girl Friday and the same case can be made with that film). The real issue I take with An American in Paris, however, is the lack of substance in the film. This is a film with very flat, impossibly perky, and incredulous characters that act and operate like robots from the 1950's rather than actual people. Gene Kelly's Jerry character is about as monotone and uninteresting as you can get, in addition to being very square, and both Adam and Henri have a fraction of that personality and are largely defined by strange character tropes and mannerisms. Milo seems to be the only real character in the film, and even she is underwritten as soon as Lise comes in, almost mirroring how Jerry entirely loses interest and ditches her upon meeting Lise.If that wasn't enough, An American in Paris has one of the biggest cinematic cop-outs I've yet to see. The final twenty minutes of an already lengthy and taxing one-hundred and thirteen minutes is a breathless interpretive dance number that just throws away any kind of conflict resolution and character development that was built up until this point. The film doesn't seem to have any interest in concluding its story with any kind of assured statement or seriousness, and instead goes full Broadway for a slight and outrageously expensive (well over $500,000 apparently) dance number that grows tiresome after a few minutes.An American in Paris gets considerable points for costume and set design, as even a mediocre script can't eclipse the majestic look and feel Paris always seems to ooze. However, with everything this film had going for it, there's little evidence of anything in the way to make this admittedly safe and harmless musical anything other than standard fare that was fortunate enough to get praised a bit too much by far too many people.Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Nina Foch, Oscar Levant, and Georges Guétary. Directed by: Vincente Minnelli.

It's ironic that "An American in Paris" features US citizens speaking glowingly of France. Half a century later Donald Rumsfeld called it Old Europe when Jacques Chirac refused to help the US invade Iraq. Of course, France wasn't without its own misdeeds. Anyone who's studied a little history knows that the French were merciless to the Algerians, and tortured Algerian prisoners during Algeria's war for independence.But anyway, the movie is unpleasant to watch, knowing that Gene Kelly was twice Leslie Caron's age. Seriously, their relationship comes across as statutory rape. If you've read my reviews of musicals, then you probably know that I watch them for the purpose of heckling them like Mike, Servo and Crow do to the crummy movies that Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank send them on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". Most of my comments during "AAiP" are not ones that I'll be allowed to repeat in this review. I will, however, say that the 16-minute dance sequence at the end looks like something that they came up with after eating too much sugar. A lot of people would probably call it an acid trip.One thing that I noticed was the appearance of Hayden Rorke, best known as Dr. Bellows on "I Dream of Jeannie". My satirical explanation of his appearance here is that Jeannie accidentally blinked him to Paris, and so he calls his wife and says "Amanda, Maj. Nelson has somehow sent me to Paris! There's bound to be a conspiracy at work here!", causing mass hysteria in Coco Beach, leading to an accidental launch of a rocket. Oh Jeannie, will you ever learn? Long story short, this is not a movie that I can take seriously, and it didn't deserve Best Picture in a year that gave us "A Streetcar Named Desire".

The musical is a genre that has seen its better days, honestly, but back in the glory days of Hollywood they could churn them out like nobody's business. AN American IN Paris, while not the best of them (or my favorite), certainly ranks up there as one of the all-time greats. The story is a bit on the ordinary/cliché side, but everything else that holds the film together is spectacular and quite a sight to see. There is amazing sets and production design, beautiful music, and of course some of the best choreographed dancing I've ever seen. Gene Kelly is the star of this movie and he makes it all seem so effortless. Of course, the supporting cast is no slouch either and more than pull their weight when it comes to the song and dance numbers. Another plus is the soundtrack and score, composed largely of tunes by George Gershwin (who also happens to be one of my favorite composers). Of course there is the title song which is played numerous times over the course of the film, but also other familiar songs like "'S Wonderful" and "I Got Rhythm," to name a couple. In a couple of instances, the appearance of certain tunes seem a little bit shoehorned, but it doesn't take very long for you to be swept up in the magic on screen and forget about everything else. One of my favorite moments in the film actually didn't involve singing or dancing. It was a fantasy sequence in which Jerry's (Gene Kelly) friend and fellow artist, Adam (Oscar Levant) imagines himself giving a concert of Gershwin's Concerto in F...except that he's also the conductor, the orchestra, and the audience who gives himself applause at the end. As a pianist myself, this sequence was very entertaining and humorous. The only problem is that it doesn't really fit into the larger framework of the film, and messes up the pacing a bit. Directly after this sequence, the pacing goes by a little too quick to catch up with itself. The only other issue I have with the film is the ending: not the magnificent song and dance sequence set to "An American in Paris," but the very end. Without spoiling it, I kind of wish the ending had been kept a little more ambiguous instead of going for the usual, crowd-pleasing happy one. That being said, I absolutely enjoyed watching this. It was a like a Technicolor dream full of vivacious energy, vibrant color and soul-stirring music. In my opinion, it's not to be missed.