Cyrano is a convoluted and misguided film, very probably created just to cash in on the notoriety of its star Peter Dinklage. And it has no other reason to exist. Strangely this is a musical too, with songs that are bland, surrounded by dance routines that are tedious. Can anyone who has seen Cyrano sing, or even name a single song? No, they are that forgettable.
The casting, while individually fine actors, are miscast and have nothing to work with. My suspicion is that are intentionally bland, so they do not eclipse Dinklage. And Dinklage is the real problem, or Dinklage and his Cyrano.
The story of Cyrano is well known, and a central part of the story is Cyrano has a huge nose, behind which is a poetic tongue backed by physical prowess. Dinklage has a small stature instead, but nothing about his Cyrano suggests he is anything other than attractive, and physically brilliant too. This ends up with scenes that are unintentionally comedic.
So Dinklage plays, and it pretty obvious, a tossle haired miniature Hugh Grant, with the mannerisms of Tyrian Lannister - and that's sort of the point of him. If anything this show only highlights his limitations as an actor. But he has to be lovable, and attractive, yet rejected and sympathetic. Its al there, and its too much. And then there is his physicality. Watching Dinklage fence is like watching Yoda in a Lightsabre duel. You don't know what to expect, then you see it and its just kind of silly. To make all this work the rest of the cast, like the music and films color pallet, are bleached. And the wider cast of French nobles are portrayed a leering and theatrically vulgar, in the midst of which Cyrano strides like a world weary sage warrior. If that sounds dumb and stilted, its because this film is.
On a positive note, if you like the Bridgerton TV series, then you will probably enjoy this. But Bridgerton is what it is and does not pretend to be serious. But this film though pretends to be Cyrano de Bergerac. It's really not. See the 1990 version. Even 34 years later thats still brilliant.
The casting, while individually fine actors, are miscast and have nothing to work with. My suspicion is that are intentionally bland, so they do not eclipse Dinklage. And Dinklage is the real problem, or Dinklage and his Cyrano.
The story of Cyrano is well known, and a central part of the story is Cyrano has a huge nose, behind which is a poetic tongue backed by physical prowess. Dinklage has a small stature instead, but nothing about his Cyrano suggests he is anything other than attractive, and physically brilliant too. This ends up with scenes that are unintentionally comedic.
So Dinklage plays, and it pretty obvious, a tossle haired miniature Hugh Grant, with the mannerisms of Tyrian Lannister - and that's sort of the point of him. If anything this show only highlights his limitations as an actor. But he has to be lovable, and attractive, yet rejected and sympathetic. Its al there, and its too much. And then there is his physicality. Watching Dinklage fence is like watching Yoda in a Lightsabre duel. You don't know what to expect, then you see it and its just kind of silly. To make all this work the rest of the cast, like the music and films color pallet, are bleached. And the wider cast of French nobles are portrayed a leering and theatrically vulgar, in the midst of which Cyrano strides like a world weary sage warrior. If that sounds dumb and stilted, its because this film is.
On a positive note, if you like the Bridgerton TV series, then you will probably enjoy this. But Bridgerton is what it is and does not pretend to be serious. But this film though pretends to be Cyrano de Bergerac. It's really not. See the 1990 version. Even 34 years later thats still brilliant.
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