Movie · 1985 · Drama, Music · 1h 58m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 2.2/10 (28.1K ratings)
One singular sensation!
Overview
A group of dancers congregate on the stage of a Broadway theatre to audition for a new musical production directed by Zach. After the initial eliminations, seventeen hopefuls remain, among them Cassie, who once had a tempestuous romantic relationship with Zach. She is desperate enough for work to humble herself and audition for him; whether he's willing to let professionalism overcome his personal feelings about their past remains to be seen.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.2/10
IMDb: 6.2/10
Letterboxd: 3.23/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%
Metacritic: 46
TMDB: 6.2/10
Director
Richard Attenborough
Production
Polygram Pictures, Embassy Films Associates
Cast
Michael Douglas, Alyson Reed, Terrence Mann, Gregg Burge, Vicki Frederick, Michelle Johnston, Audrey Landers, Janet Jones, Pam Klinger, Cameron English, Yamil Borges, Nicole Fosse, Tony Fields, Justin Ross, Jan Gan Boyd, Sharon Brown, Matt West, Charles McGowan, Michael Blevins, Blane Savage
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A Chorus Line is an earnest, high-concept backstage musical with real historical interest and a strong premise, but the film is uneven in execution. It has moments of electricity in the audition-room confessions and dance numbers, yet the adaptation can feel static, overlong, and less alive than the stage show it’s built from.
Best for
musical fans who enjoy backstage-showbiz stories
viewers interested in Broadway history and performance psychology
fans of ensemble pieces built around auditions, ambition, and vulnerability
people who like 1980s studio musicals with a theatrical, stage-bound feel
Skip if
you want a kinetic, cinematic movie musical rather than a filmed-theatre adaptation
you’re impatient with talky, self-conscious monologues
you need a tightly plotted story with strong dramatic escalation
you dislike stagey presentation or uneven vocal performances
Overview
A Chorus Line is fascinating as both a musical and a time capsule. The setup is simple but potent: a room full of dancers stripping away their polish to explain why they need the job, and what they’ve sacrificed to get there. That framework gives the film a built-in emotional hook, especially when it leans into insecurity, vanity, longing, and the brutal economics of show business.
Worth noting
The problem is that the movie often feels trapped by its own theatricality. Instead of translating the material into something fully cinematic, it largely preserves the stage-bound structure, which can flatten momentum and make the middle stretch feel repetitive. Still, when the dancing clicks or the audition stories land, the film captures the strange mix of glamour and desperation that defines Broadway mythology.
Bottom line
It’s most rewarding if you’re interested in performance as identity: the way dancers sell themselves, hide themselves, and reveal themselves all at once. As a movie, it’s uneven; as a document of Broadway obsession and the emotional cost of chasing a role, it remains compelling.
Top Letterboxd reviews
jude (4★) · 559 likes
theatre kids do actually just monologue like this in real life
James (Schaffrillas) (4★) · 450 likes
Lmao of course he let the tits and ass girl get in
Courtney LeSueur (4★) · 429 likes
Imagine my shock when I learned that Cassie is Ms. Darbus!!!!!!!
👽 Zara 👽 (1.5★) · 286 likes
i'm so fucking pissed it's exactly 3:01 am and i sat through this whole thing and nOT FUCKING ONCE DID MICHAEL DOUGLAS SING WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
lauren deane🧚🏼♀️ (4★) · 273 likes
any movie with an entire song dedicated to tits and ass gets an A-star in my book 🍑