This Christmas with all the movies opening, I decided to go against the what’s expected of me going to see Sherlock Holmes and instead going to see Nine. And might I say I’m glad I did. Nine is a movie-musical based the 1983 Broadway musical “8 1/2.” Nine tells the story of Italian director Guido Contini (Daniel Day Lewis) as he struggles to pen his latest film “Italia.” Meanwhile, his personal life is in shambles, in particular all the women in his life. These women are his wife (a phenomenal Marion Cotillard), his mistress (an equally as phenomenal Penelope Cruz), his assistant (Dame Judi Dench), his mother (Sophia Loren), a journalist (Kate Hudson), a whore from his childhood (Fergie) and his leading actress (Nicole Kidman). This super woman ensemble is perfect to a T. Most of the songs are heart felt looks into the character. I was on the verge of tears during “My Husband Makes Movies” which is sung by an aforementioned phenomenal Marion Cotillard. Rob Marshall, who directed the Oscar-winning Chicago, does the musical numbers like Chicago with his music video like editing. I personally loved it. It made it look really polished. My only real problem with it is that they added a song that was not in the original musical, “Cinema Italiano.” I like the song but it kind of goes against the theme of the rest of the music which is kind of Jazzy like. But overall a very good film worth the price of admission.

Overall Grade: B+