Movie · 1969 · Comedy, Romance · 2h 28m · G · English
Curator score: 5.2/10 (48.4K ratings)
Come anytime for the time of your life!
Overview
Dolly Levi is a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to see the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so, she convinces his niece, his niece's intended, and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York City.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.2/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Letterboxd: 3.81/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 43%
Metacritic: 51
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
Gene Kelly
Production
Chenault Productions, 20th Century Fox
Cast
Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, Marianne McAndrew, Danny Lockin, E.J. Peaker, Joyce Ames, Tommy Tune, Judy Knaiz, David Hurst, Fritz Feld, Richard Collier, J. Pat O'Malley, Louis Armstrong, David Ahdar, Will Ahern, Rutanya Alda, Melanie Alexander, Ben Archibek, John Arnold
Where to watch
Disney Plus, BroadwayHD
Curator Review
Verdict
A lavish, old-school musical comedy built around spectacle, star power, and sheer theatrical confidence. It’s uneven in places, but the production design, choreography, and Barbra Streisand’s commanding performance make it a rewarding watch for anyone who loves big studio-era entertainments.
Best for
fans of classic Hollywood musicals
viewers who enjoy extravagant production design and choreography
audiences looking for a warm, buoyant romantic comedy
Barbra Streisand admirers
people who like long-form, maximalist showmanship
Skip if
you want a tight, modern-paced movie
you dislike stagey or highly theatrical filmmaking
you prefer subtle romance over broad comic performance
you have little patience for old-fashioned musical excess
Overview
Hello, Dolly! is a grand, unapologetic piece of studio-era spectacle, the kind of musical that wants to fill the frame with color, movement, and personality. Gene Kelly stages it with a dancer’s eye for rhythm and space, and the movie’s best stretches feel like a parade of confidence: big entrances, bustling ensembles, and songs that seem designed to stop time.
Worth noting
Barbra Streisand is the engine that keeps it all aloft. She gives Dolly Levi a dazzling mix of wit, warmth, and strategic force, making the character feel less like a romantic lead than a force of nature. Walter Matthau’s gruffness gives the comedy a nice counterweight, and the film’s charm comes from how fully it commits to its own heightened world.
Bottom line
It is also a very long, very ornate musical, and that can be part of the pleasure or the obstacle. Some viewers will find the pacing indulgent, but if you respond to craftsmanship, choreography, and old-fashioned cinematic abundance, Hello, Dolly! is easy to admire and often delightful to watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
jocey coffman (5★) · 1430 likes
wall-e's most prized possession is a VHS copy of Hello, Dolly.
I like to think about him, living alone in his trash trailer, rewatching this gorgeous movie over and over. he's the only thriving thing on a human-devastated earth, yet he yearns for the best of humanity watching ms. dolly levi sing and dance and charm laps around everyone in her proximity. anyway, for completely separate reasons, this is a supremely comforting movie to devote two and a half hours of attention to in 2018.
clownhead (5★) · 1201 likes
u know what? dolly levi really is THAT bitch
demi adejuyigbe (4.5★) · 1193 likes
The beautiful technicolor!! The intricate dancing!! The lanky delicate steps of Tommy Tune, who is certainly a swan that was turned into a man!! Wowee wow wow, they don't make 'em like this anymore!!
liam f (3★) · 735 likes
he may not be in this film, but you can clearly see Gene Kelly in every single frame
jack ✿ · 699 likes
when barnaby and cornelius were referring to themselves as gay and charming...literally so correct wish they kissed