The Greatest Showman (2017)

Opening to middling reviews The Greatest Showman has done incredibly good word of mouth business, with over a quarter of a billion dollars at the box office so far. I initially had no great desire to see it but multiple people kept telling me I should, so I did. Based loosely on the life of circus impresario P.T. Barnum (1810-1891), The Greatest Showman is a written for the screen musical with songs by the Oscar and Tony winning team of Pasek and Paul. Greatly condensed, the main body of the film makes events that took place between the 1830's and 1870's look like they happened over the course of just a few years. The first half of the film is a rags to riches tale, while the second half a redemption story. Fairly conventional in narrative the film has catchy music and an engaging cast who make it play, with Hugh Jackman in the lead really putting in the work of selling the thing, both on the screen and in an advertising campaign that some times directly begs you to see the movie. It is certainly designed for the big screen and as a movie about a circus it seemed appropriate to see it with a large audience, and I saw it in a nearly packed Saturday matinee more then a month after its initial release. Whether or not it was intentional the film felt rather political, with its message about "the freaks and outcastes" demanding their place in a conservative society that rejects them. Is it just me or is Paul Sparks in everything now.  Ironically Barnum's circus closed up shop the middle of last year after 146 continuous years of operation. **1/2