Audrey Hepburn does not have a Funny Face, but it's a great movie anyway

I’ve been on an old movie kick lately. I haven’t actually been able to watch tons of old movies, but I’ve been going around finding old movies that feature some of my favorite actors. Cary Grant or Bing Crosby might lead me to check out a new movie, or, in this case, it might originally be the delightful and beautiful Audrey Hepburn. When I was looking through the filmography of Audrey Hepburn and realized that Funny Face not only had her, but another favorite, Fred Astaire, I was sold. And what a great choice!

The Plot
Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) is a fashion photographer for Quality magazine. When he can’t get a ditzy model (in a gorgeous black dress) to look intellectual, he and the boss, Maggie (Kay Thompson) decide to go on location to a book shop. Lucky us to find that the mousy intellectual minding the store is Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn). When Maggie, Dick, and crew leave the place a shambles, Jo lets Dick have it. Her fire starts the spark, of course, and later, when Maggie needs a model to take to Paris and model the new couture line of clothing, Dick suggests the mousy girl from the book shop. “But she has such a funny face!” says the boss. And a musical is born. Rebecca’s side note: You just have to suspend disbelief here that anybody would ever think Audrey Hepburn was anything but gorgeous.

The rest of the movie is about Jo becoming a model as a way to get to Paris and meet a professor that she has admired for ages. Of course a romance happens with Dick, and, as with most of these stories, there are complications. In the midst of all this everybody is singing and dancing to such numbers as Funny Face, S’Wonderful, and a random bee-bop number (what Beatniks might dance if they were dancing to jazz music).

The Music
With George and Ira Gershwin doing the music, it couldn’t be anything but wonderful. The first number is called “Think Pink” (as in, pink will be the next big fashion thing). Now I would never be caught dead in pink, but the number is great and Kay Thompson can really belt out a tune.

There’s also the Bonjour Paris number where the three leads each tour around Paris. A fun number, a great tour of Paris, and one of the first times we really get to hear Audrey belt out a tune. It’s a little weird at first because she’s not the strongest singer, but given the alternative (using somebody else’s singing voice as in My Fair Lady), it’s great to hear her singing her own songs.

Another favorite number is “He Loves, She Loves.” It’s not because the song is so memorable, however. It’s very nice, but the entire scene is a demonstration of how amazing an actress Audrey Hepburn is. Jo is definitely in love with Dick and you can see it in every inch of her. Fantastic.

The Dancing
While not one of Fred Astaire’s best films, Funny Face has some fantastic numbers. The best solo Fred number is “Let’s Kiss and Make Up”, where Dick dances in the cobblestone street outside of Jo’s window. He starts off pretty standard, dancing with an umbrella (as only Fred can do), but suddenly switches into a matador-themed dance, where he uses his raincoat (red-lined of course) as the cape. It’s great fun to watch.

Another surprise to me was watching Audrey dance. Sure, she does great with the simple couple dances with Fred, but my favorite number was the bee-bop dance in the underground French lounge. She’s got the sleek black catsuit and does some great jazz dancing.

The other numbers are all nice, and the love songs are sweet, but nothing stands out as the all-time best in compared to Fred Astaire’s other movies.

The Clothes
I’m a clothes geek.. I love looking at clothes and costumes, and I like sewing. One of my favorite time periods is the 50’s (I’m sure it’s because of the movie Grease), and with this being about a fashion magazine, there are some fantastic clothes in this movie. Not spectacular ball gowns, but nice 50’s suits and dresses and fun stuff. I’m sure nobody but me cares about this…

Also, slightly related to the clothes, is a note about the actual women-shaped women that are the backup dancers (and even some of the models) in the movie. It’s so nice to see women with hips! Why can’t more women have real figures these days?

The Summary
I have to say, when I was watching the movie I was completely delighted. I would give it a “5” because I enjoyed it so much, but I’m actually going to say “4” because there are other musicals that are even better than this. Still, if you haven’t seen Funny Face and enjoy Audrey, Fred, or musicals in general, run out and get this. It’s worth the 103 minutes.