Sweeney Todd (2007, USA/UK)

About midway through Sweeney Todd, I wondered - how does he get referrals?

Nitpicking aside, I really enjoyed the movie. I'm not at all familiar with the source material, so it was fun to see the story unfold on its own (rather predictably, but it's a vengeance musical, so how much innovation can you expect?). I think Tim Burton finally has a strong enough frame to wrap himself around - without a well-written script and careful plotting, he tends to let his visual sensibility and quirky humor get away from him. I think Big Fish is a prime example, though I had similar problems with his version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, despite enjoying it more than I expected to.

Sweeney is the darkest thing I've seen Burton do in some time, and it's got to be a joy for him to be able to indulge this much. It's BLOODY. Really bloody. (BTW, don't bring your kids. At my showing, there were at least two in the front rows, and one of them couldn't have been much older than six.) It's nasty and gross and quite a bit of fun. The romantic plot didn't interest me - it rarely does in this type of narrative - but it was a necessity, and Burton doesn't dwell on it. He spends most of his time with the fabulous couple of Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett, and I really enjoyed what Helena Bonham Carter does with Mrs. Lovett - you know she's all kinds of wrong, but there's a great big gaping hole of need inside her that turns her crimes inside out. Depp is good, as usual, as are Rickman and Spall. Sacha Baron Cohen's Italian barber was a bit too much Adam Sandler for me, but whatever - it's a melodramatic musical about a killer barber. Subtlety isn't exactly on the menu. But vicar is!