"Nine" Rotten at the Core

NYC - I can’t imagine why anyone would make the movie “Nine”. Oh yes, it was originally a Broadway musical. But just talking about the basic concept, what’s the damn purpose?

The story revolves around famous film director Guido Contini, a knockoff of real-life Italian director Frederico Fellini. He’s a serial womanizer. He can’t stay out of bed with beautiful women when they throw themselves at him. It’s ironic that the film comes out in the midst of the Tiger Woods tales. Contini, even in the midst of apologizing to his wife and trying to make up, abruptly leaves to be with his mistress, Penelope Cruz. (She of the heavy eyebrows and skimpy underpants.) Beautiful costumes, ample girlie shots and bazooms galore.

But flashy dance and costumes cannot sufficiently mask the stink of the rot that lies beneath. We see a procession of his infidelity, casually tossing back affairs like a scotch before dinner. No concern for marital faithfulness. Or for the damage that such serial infidelities produce.

And at the end of the movie – finally! – we see no real repentance or change in his behavior. After suffering a dry spell as a film director, Contini at the end of the movie is back in the studio about to start a movie, his creative dry spell rekindled.

But left unresolved is his sexual addiction, his casual disdain for lying, his total disregard for his marital vows. To say that the whole movie put me off would be a huge understatement. I can’t believe that anyone with some maturity beyond that of a pubescent teenage boy would want to make such a film.

Or see it.

It’s with delight that I saw in today’s New York Times that “Nine” is languishing at the box office.