Marshall musical “Nine” is more of a five

“Nine”

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman

Director: Rob… “Nine”

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman

Director: Rob Marshall

The Weinstein Company

Grade: C+

It turns out that moving from “Chicago” to Italy might not have been Rob Marshall’s best move.

The director, known for his 2002 Oscar-winning adaptation of the Kander and Ebb classic “Chicago,” decided to take a much more obscure musical and apply his keen eye for song and dance to the story of a famed Italian film director struggling to come up with his next masterpiece.

The result is “Nine,” and unfortunately, the film isn’t as good as what Marshall has already proved he is capable of creating.

Those who have seen the trailers for the film know that the plot surrounds not only director Guido Cantini (Daniel Day-Lewis), but more so the ravishing women who dominate his life. Enter the incredible (and criminally underutilized) female ensemble.

Oscar-winners Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”) and Penelope Cruz play the jilted wife and the smoldering, needy mistress, respectively, and both share an ample amount of screen time. The rest of the women, however, appear all too briefly, though each commands her scene and musical number to provide the film’s brilliant moments.

Fergie, or Stacy Ferguson, plays a prostitute from Guido’s childhood, and she belts out the showstopping song “Be Italian.” Kate Hudson proves she can actually sing with the film’s other standout song, “Cinema Italiano,” and Judi Dench provides comic relief as Guido’s costume designer. Sophia Loren appears as Guido’s mom, and Nicole Kidman phones in her performance as Guido’s actress muse.

Those who thought Kidman was icy and stiff in “The Golden Compass” can check out her performance here and get back to me — it’s abysmal.

If it sounds like this review is skirting away from divulging the plot of the film, it’s because there really isn’t any plot to divulge. This is one of the film’s major weaknesses — simply little actually happens. The end result is just a series of bland, non-musical scenes interspersed with each actress’s one number (Cotillard gets two, but they are the two worst songs in the film).

Day-Lewis, though adequate in the leading role, doesn’t really bring anything to the table that any other similarly unkempt and rough-around-the-edges actor could.

The art direction and cinematography are admirable, but they lose their effect when paired with such a middling film.

Though it had Oscar buzz going into the season, “Nine” is definitely not this year’s “Chicago” — it’s this year’s “Phantom of the Opera.”

“Nine” Trailer 2: