A Chorus Line (1985) review

Choreographer Zach (Michael Douglas) is preparing for his new Broadway production with assistant Larry (Terrence Mann) by auditioning multiple dancers, making early cuts, asking those remaining about their personal histories and then deciding who's going to appear in the show ... meanwhile, Zach's former girlfriend Cassie (Alyson Reed), a talented performer in her own right, appears in need of a job (she awakens buried feelings in him).  Whatever made this a massive success in the 1970's for Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante (it won several Tony awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama) is missing from this big screen adaptation: the dance numbers are fine (although I admit I'm not positive what counts as "noteworthy" in that area since I have the coordination of a deeply intoxicated skeleton) but it's negligible on a human level (the acting is mediocre), and Zach's "interview" portion stalls out the movie completely (being confined to a single location doesn't work in its favor, either).  With all due respect to Attenborough, I'm not sure he was the correct individual to properly guide this - he's too inherently rigid to allow it to "break free."