The Greatest Showman (2017) *** 1/2

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I trust Hugh Jackman when it comes to two things: movie scripts and top hats. He's done good work here with both. The Greatest Showman is a musical about the life of P.T. Barnum. It was great - all musicals should contain circus freaks. It was weird watching Hugh solve problems without unleashing his claws, which is how he fixed things in the last few movies of his I watched.

[AArdvark]

At any point did someone chant: "gobble gobble one of us" ?

The true test of freaks in cinema

[Tdarcos]

One of Barnum's brilliant stunts was when too many people were hanging around in one exhibit - which meant more paying customers could not be admitted - he put up a sign "THIS WAY TO THE EGRESS" and people would go to look, leaving the exhibit but not finding anything interesting. But that was the point; "egress" is another word for "exit."

In another place Barnum was running a show that had huge crowds showing up. "How's business?" someone asked him. "Terrible, it's not enough." he said. The other man, not understanding, said, "Not enough customers?" "No," said Barnum, "Not enough room. Turning people away."