Musicals as a genre can afford to be about nothing, since the point of a musical is its song and dance. But even at that, "The Pajama Game" is pushing it.
This ditzy, schizophrenic musical about labor relations in a pajama factory doesn't make a lick of sense. Doris Day plays the head of HR while John Raitt is the new hard-line manager. There's knife throwing, firings, a scene of attempted murder set in a creepy basement full of mannequins (yet played for laughs), and there's nary a dramatic conflict to be found. Or more precisely, there are conflicts, but they disappear without getting resolved, or they're resolved within minutes after being introduced, leaving you to wonder what the rest of the film will possibly be about.
Many of the stage actors were transplanted directly to the screen, and maybe that's one of this film's biggest problems. These aren't screen actors who know how to make material work in context of a film. This musical is probably a hoot on stage, but it doesn't work as a movie at all.
Bob Fosse provided the minimal choreography the film's few dance routines contain, but fans watching the movie for his touch will likely be disappointed. Still, even at that it's still his signature number, "Steam Heat," that stands as the most memorable moment, even if it has nothing to do with anything else going on.
Grade: C-
This ditzy, schizophrenic musical about labor relations in a pajama factory doesn't make a lick of sense. Doris Day plays the head of HR while John Raitt is the new hard-line manager. There's knife throwing, firings, a scene of attempted murder set in a creepy basement full of mannequins (yet played for laughs), and there's nary a dramatic conflict to be found. Or more precisely, there are conflicts, but they disappear without getting resolved, or they're resolved within minutes after being introduced, leaving you to wonder what the rest of the film will possibly be about.
Many of the stage actors were transplanted directly to the screen, and maybe that's one of this film's biggest problems. These aren't screen actors who know how to make material work in context of a film. This musical is probably a hoot on stage, but it doesn't work as a movie at all.
Bob Fosse provided the minimal choreography the film's few dance routines contain, but fans watching the movie for his touch will likely be disappointed. Still, even at that it's still his signature number, "Steam Heat," that stands as the most memorable moment, even if it has nothing to do with anything else going on.
Grade: C-