Although she gets to use her own singing voice on her song numbers, Audrey Hepburn's natural gamine appeal is nearly swallowed up in the fake-happy surroundings of "Funny Face", a stylish Stanley Donen musical saddled with a leadweight (though Oscar-nominated!) script by Leonard Gershe. Fred Astaire plays a famous photographer based in New York City who discovers the beauty in a mousy Greenwich Village book-clerk. So far, so good. But from these promising beginnings comes nothing more pressing than a complicated-romance plot which holds no weight, no substance, and delivers nary a flicker of chemistry between Fred and Audrey. There's also a dire subplot about a philosopher in Paris, with the film laughably comparing a beatnik lecture to a spiritual. Hepburn is used as a model--and she's a great model--but where's all that enchanting feistiness we know she's capable of? Donen is only interested in flash and fluttery-gay nonsense. The Gershwin songs are often lovely, the film's color schemes and fashions are terrific, but the movie's kick is all a fabrication--and its romance is rote. Other Oscar noms included: art direction, Ray June for his cinematography and Edith Head for her costumes (shared with Audrey's designer, Hubert de Givenchy, who received his only recognition from the Academy here). **1/2 from ****
Review of Funny Face
