Hello, Dolly!
Year: 1969
Rating: G
Length: 146 minutes / 2.43 hours
In WALL-E (2008), the one surviving movie in this post-apocalyptic future was a VHS version of Hello, Dolly! (1969). Does this mean Hello, Dolly! is any good? Hardly. It’s merely the only movie to survive. If anything, Hello, Dolly! is your standard 1960s musical. There are many superior musicals from this decade, and it’s clear that this one is on the tailing end of the fad. Sure, it has its moments, but it’s so cookie-cutter in its plot that the only thing special about it is Barbra Streisand’s performance.
It’s no surprise that the few musical numbers that made it into WALL-E were some of the better ones in this movie. “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” is endlessly catchy, even if “Love is Only Love” is your standard love song. Of course, the title song, “Hello, Dolly!” works and is a bit of a bookend to the musical’s start with “Call on Dolly.” As I mentioned before, Streisand’s performance in this musical is notable, likely due to her musical background. She definitely occupies the role, and I don’t know if I can think of anyone else as Dolly.
Unfortunately, the plot leaves something to be desired. I’m not wild about the crotchety old man, Horace (Walter Matthau), being handed a marriage just because that’s how musical comedies need to end. There was no chemistry or natural character growth that would have produced this result. And while the “poor yokel” side-plot is humorous at times, it feels copied and pasted from elsewhere. I will say that the dance numbers are pretty good, but hardly up to the standard that I would expect from director Gene Kelly. Then again, he didn’t have anything to do with the choreography, which likely explains the lackluster quality.
A painfully average ‘60s musical, I give Hello, Dolly! 3.0 stars out of 5.
