A Big Bold Beautiful Journey Proves One Thing About Colin Farrell

During the days of the "studio system" in Hollywood, actors were almost literally raised to become multi-faceted talents. The restrictive nature of this system eventually led to its collapse, and generally has led to much better use of each individual actor's talents. However, one aspect that's been lost since is an emphasis on allowing an actor's unused or hidden talents a chance to shine through, talents that perhaps they don't even realize they possess. Then there's the changing landscape of the types of films that are actually made these days, with some genres falling out of favor, like the western, if not nearly completely disappearing, like the movie musical.

When it comes to the latter, there have been several movie musicals released over the last decade and change, enough to say that the genre isn't totally dead. However, their relative scarcity has meant that a coterie of the usual suspects turn up in them, folks like Hugh Jackman, Cynthia Erivo, and so on. The age of the "song and dance man" is pretty much no more, leaving people like Jackman to find projects like "The Greatest Showman" to showcase that part of his talent on screen, and other folks like Tom Holland and Channing Tatum have to make due with putting their physical agility into other, non-musical types of films like "Spider-Man" and "Magic Mike." 

Colin Farrell is not an actor who is generally thought of as a musical type, as the majority of his screen performances are in drama and genre films, with a smattering of family fare and dark comedy. Yet this week's "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" proves that Farrell has a natural talent for the genre. In the film, Farrell gets to sing and dance his way through the opening number of a musical, and he's so good in it (not to mention having so much fun with it) that it begs the question: when is he going to get to do a proper musical movie?

In "Big Bold Beautiful Journey," Farrell plays David, a man who is taken on a titular magic journey along with Sarah (Margot Robbie), where the two get to revisit multiple aspects of their lives thus far. In David's case, he is transported back to his high school days, a time when he was 15 years old and was playing the lead role, J. Pierrepont Finch, in a production of the 1961 Frank Loesser musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." Farrell shines in the part, giving the opening number, "How to Succeed," such an Old Hollywood gusto that he gives Robert Morse (who played Finch in the 1967 film version of the musical) a run for his money. It's not too surprising that Farrell would have a great sense of timing; after all, some of his best performances rely on his comedic chops, such as "In Bruges" and "The Lobster." It is surprising, however, that he's got such a voice with a pleasingly clear tone, and that he's physically agile when it comes to the dance choreography. In other words, unlike some stars pressured into doing musical numbers (looking at you, half the cast of the "Mamma Mia" films), Farrell absolutely nails what might've been a mere joke in lesser hands, the idea that we're seeing the middle-aged David back in his teenage years.

Of course, "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" is not a true movie musical (though, given its allusions to the French New Wave, specifically the films of Jacques Demy, perhaps it should've been). So, as delightful as this performance of Farrell's is, it's not enough, and only whets the appetite for more of the actor in musical mode. "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is probably too antiquated to justify a big-budget cinematic remake, so we can't merely suggest that Farrell be cast in something like that. There's always the possibility of him starring in a brand new movie musical a la "The Greatest Showman" or "La La Land," which could be great. If it's a pre-existing musical that Colin Farrell should star in, however, my vote would be 1947's "Finian's Rainbow," by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy. Yes, the musical is 78 years old, and yes, the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Fred Astaire made a film version in 1968. Yet the storyline is fantasy-based enough that it could be comfortably updated to modern times (something which Coppola did with his film), and the book certainly appeals to Farrell's strengths, being a proud Irishman and, as seen in "Big Bold," someone with a penchant for American Songbook-style material. 

Whatever happens, hopefully, we get to see Farrell lead the cast of a big splashy movie musical in just a few years.