Everyone Deserves the Chance to Cry | Wicked (2024) Movie Review | #OscarsHomework
Chu-Chu! All aboard (the first half of) The Wicked Express 🚂
I LiveSkeet film reviews over on BlueSky, and then piece them together with commentary to make my full reviews here on Medium before they go to Letterbox’d. Please subscribe anywhere/everywhere you can for more of my shenanigans…
I saw Wicked on December 17 at noon, but have put off writing my thoughts down until today because I did not post much on BlueSky (so I’m staring at a totally blank page, and a lot of thoughts).
For some context, my background with Wicked is that in late 2003/early 2004, I was a junior in high school and in choir, and the cast recording of the original soundtrack was omnipresent. I didn’t have my own car, so I heard that goddamn thing every morning and afternoon on the way to and from school, and I hated it.
I had honestly decided not to see Wicked at all, but a friend heard that I and a plus-one get free movie tickets, and she is a diehard Wicked fan, so she more or less twisted my arm. I later discovered she had already seen the film, but I was initially under the impression I was taking her to see it for the first time. I think she deliberately fooled me, and good, because I loved this film.
It’s a musical. I usually think they suck. Film adaptations of musicals are especially dire. Les Misérables (2012) might be the most assaultive, upsetting experience I’ve ever had in a movie theatre, Cats (2019) might be a sex crime and Chicago (2002) is simultaneously the most boring and least sexy song-and-dance act ever committed to film.
But I love a La La Land or a Moulin Rouge. When they hit, they do hit in a special way.
Wicked is unquestionably one of those special ones, and I have high hopes for Wicked: For Good later this year.
If I have a controversial take on this film, it might be this. True to my tweet, I went back and listened to the original cast recordings I so despised on the trips to and from school every day, with my heart full to bursting from love for the film I’d just seen.
Still hate it.
I think Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (under the direction of Jon M. Chu) are megastars. They’ve got It.
I kind of got the impression they don’t especially like each other from some promotional stuff the three of them were doing prior to the film’s release, but I’ve since walked that back. I don’t care, and it doesn’t matter, because their onscreen chemistry is undeniable.
Going into the film, I knew that the audio had been captured live on set, which seemed asinine to me before seeing it.
I was dead wrong. The performances are rich and full of energy and life. What seemed like a self-defeating stylistic flourish when I heard about it proved to be an incredibly savvy and effective choice.
After glancing at the Oscar Categories, here’s a list of Oscars that Wicked will certainly be nominated for, and should probably win:
- Best Picture
- Best Director
- Best Actress
- Best Cinematography
- Best Production Design
- Best Sound
- Best Costume Design
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Best Casting
I’m old and secure enough to admit when I’m wrong, and I was way wrong to pre-judge Wicked based on my hazy recollection of the original cast recordings. It’s a masterpiece, and one of the rarest gems of all: a very-good musical film. Don’t miss Wicked, even if you think you want to.
