Movie · 1968 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 2h 35m · G · English
Curator score: 8.8/10 (90.4K ratings)
People who see FUNNY GIRL are the luckiest people in the world!
Overview
The life of famed 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of New York, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as her marriage to the rakish gambler Nick Arnstein.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.8/10
IMDb: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.97/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Metacritic: 88
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
William Wyler
Production
Columbia Pictures, Rastar Productions
Cast
Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen, Mae Questel, Gerald Mohr, Frank Faylen, Mittie Lawrence, Gertrude Flynn, Penny Santon, John Harmon, Thordis Brandt, Bettina Brenna, Virginia Ann Ford, Alena Johnston, Karen Stride, Mary Jane Mangler, Inga Neilsen
Curator Review
Verdict
A star-making, emotionally generous backstage musical that starts as a buoyant rise-to-fame story and deepens into a sharper, more adult romance and melodrama. Barbra Streisand is magnetic, the songs are iconic, and the film’s mix of spectacle, wit, and bruised feeling still lands.
Best for
classic musical fans
viewers who like big personality performances
romantic dramas with a showbiz setting
fans of 1960s studio craftsmanship
stories about ambition and complicated love
Skip if
you want a tightly paced plot with no tonal detours
you dislike old-Hollywood musical style
you prefer understated acting and low-key emotions
you want a purely feel-good rise-to-success story
Overview
Funny Girl is one of those star vehicles that earns the phrase. Barbra Streisand doesn’t just carry the movie; she seems to bend it around her, turning Fanny Brice into a force of nature who is funny, needy, brilliant, and heartbreakingly self-aware all at once. The musical numbers are staged with real confidence, and the film understands how to let a performer dominate a frame without losing the surrounding world of vaudeville, Ziegfeld glamour, and romantic disappointment.
Worth noting
What makes it linger is the shift in tone. The first half plays like a sparkling ascent, full of backstage energy and comic momentum, but the film gradually reveals a more painful emotional register. The romance with Nick Arnstein becomes less a fairy tale than a study in mismatched desire, pride, and dependence, and the movie is unusually willing to let that feel messy.
Bottom line
It’s not perfectly balanced, but its unevenness is part of its appeal. The spectacle is lush, the songs are enduring, and the central performance is so commanding that even the film’s rougher turns feel like part of a larger, more ambitious portrait of a woman trying to out-sing the limits placed on her.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Ashton (5★) · 3811 likes
Masculinity is so fragile! Sorry your wife could command an army of gays just by singing a showtune, I hope your male ego was worth going TO JAIL for Mr. Arnstein!
liv (4★) · 2999 likes
i can’t believe they made a whole movie about that song from glee !!! Rachel Berry’s impact 😌💅🏼
Marian (4★) · 2059 likes
wide shots of intricate set pieces???? bring them back