Such widespread acceptance serves only to inflame the Les Mis detractors.
#LES MISERABLES FULL MOVIE 2013 MOVIE#
Scores of celebrities, some with still-damp eyes, have taken to Twitter to express their rapturous seals of approval, including Katie Couric, Ellen Page, Jon Favreau, Larry King and Zach Braff (who wrote, "If crying 3 times during a movie musical is wrong, I don't wanna be right"). There are tears, applause, even standing ovations."
"We have witnessed firsthand since the earliest screenings how powerfully it connects to people. "There is every indication that we have a lot of returning customers for repeat viewings," says Michael Moses, co-president of marketing for Universal, the studio behind Les Mis. 6 on the Billboard chart after topping the list for three weeks. Even the soundtrack is a hit, now sitting at No. In fact, most critics lean toward the positive, judging by the 70% thumbs-up score on the review-tracking website .Īs for the box office, it has proven strong - $132 million domestic and $283 million worldwide - and fairly steady ever since the $61 million production opened a month ago. Mind you, these scoffing scribes and their ilk do not represent a majority opinion, given that Les Mis has gathered eight Oscar nominations and three Golden Globe wins. I was doubly embarrassed because all around me, in a very large theater, people were sitting rapt, awed, absolutely silent, only to burst into applause after some of the numbers." Overbearing, pretentious, madly repetitive. "The movie is not just bad," Denby brayed. Having never bothered to inoculate himself against the possibility of cultural cooties by attending a stage show that more than 60 million worldwide have seen, his first exposure to an adaptation was the film version, and it apparently sickened him to his core. Judging by their published vitriol, a number of notable pundits who experienced the big-screen version of Broadway's 1987 Tony winner leave the dark of the theater fairly frothing with anger, disgust, repulsion and, yes, hate.īut the king of Les Mis-anthropy has to be David Denby of The New Yorker, whose online screed reeks of condescension in its very title: "There's still hope for people who love Les Mis."įor him, the movie is akin to a cinematic Black Plague. Meanwhile, four major characters die during the course of its 157 minutes, along with sundry student revolutionaries sacrificing themselves for a lost cause, all the while singing in close-up and live on camera without the artifice of lip-syncing.īut Les Mis also has earned the reputation as the feel-hate film of the year. Not that the best-picture contender, the first musical to compete in the category since 2002's Chicago, doesn't live up to its name.Ĭonsider that much of the story based on Victor Hugo's 1862 novel is devoted to chronicling the pitiful state of the impoverished masses in 19th-century France through the redemptive actions of Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), the ex-convict who served 19 years for merely stealing a loaf of bread. Les Misérables is much more than just the feel-sad movie of the Oscar season. %27Les Mis%27 has grossed %24132 million domestic and %24283 million worldwide.%22Overbearing%2C pretentious%2C madly repetitive%2C%22 says David Denby of %27The New Yorker%27.
Despite a 70%25 rating%2C a few prominent critics came out strongly against %27Les Mis%27.