The High Price of Xanadu

So, Mrs. F and I got together last weekend with FOTF Velvet Bulldog for a viewing of Xanadu--another in our series of rollerskating-themed films. (Well, it's been a short series, with just the under-rated Roll Bounce viewed previously.)

Mrs. F could remember Xanadu being quite a seminal film from her formative years, and I remember it being quite the camp classic when I finally saw it in college. Lemme tell ya... it doesn't hold up well. The dialogue and acting (especially anything coming out of the mouth of male lead Michael Beck) are wooden and lifeless, the deadened camera work and editing add nothing to what should have been a zesty 70s freak-out of a musical. That said, the musical numbers really aren't that bad and Gene Kelly was certainly game in his final film, bringing an enthusiasm that's missing from everyone else in the cast. And I gotta say that the music does hold up pretty well (at least from my standpoint--I've always been a big ELO fan, and Mrs. F and I used the Olivia tune "Magic" for our first dance at our wedding).

After watching the credits, though, I thought I recognized the name of the director, so I checked it out on IMDB and... I couldn't believe my eyes. Robert Greenwald, director of the whacked-out, lackluster Xanadu, has transformed himself into the lefty documentary director of such films as Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Who says there aren't second acts in the entertainment world?

Anyhoo, here's a tidbit from the movie, courtesy of YouTube, followed below by the trailer to Greenwald's Wal-Mart movie (which is definitely worth a rental sometime).