having seen 8 1/2 in the past, i had to force it out my head and take the movie for what it was.

It just started off flat in my opinion. I was bored the first 30 minutes but as it went on the story became more interesting to me.

Hudson and Kidman's characters were useless and served as flimsy road blocks for guido.

Dench, Day-Lewis and Cotillard were the only characters that keep me attentive throughout since they were given more thorough roles to play, even though Guido seemed like even more of an enigma and introvert than in 8 1/2. 8 1/2 ws almost three hours so having all those characters worked but in a 90 mintute movie it felt rushed throwing all these people in.Oh, and Sophia Loren as the mother sorta worked for me.

overall, this felt like a cliff-noted version of 8 1/2 with no real connections to the characters . the only songs that stood out were "Be Italian", which seemed to have had more time and effort placed into than any other number and Hudson's only because its was so upbeat and catchy. the whole movie felt superficial throughout.

i'd say wait for dvd with this one.