Nine (PG-13, 2009)

Celebrated film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) has everyone on tenterhooks waiting for his next tour de force, Italia. A set has been built at the famed Cinecitta Studios in Rome, and his cast and crew are awaiting a script. But Guido is struggling; haunted by the "ghosts" of women past, he can’t create the masterpiece that everyone’s expecting. His mind wanders to memories of his beloved Mamma (Sophia Loren); of the prostitute (Fergie) he knew as a child; of his muse, the actress Claudia (Nicole Kidman); of his costume designer (Judi Dench); of a Vogue reporter looking to seduce him (Kate Hudson); of his mistress, Carla (Penelope Cruz); and of his long-suffering wife, Luisa (Marion Cotillard). An escape to the countryside only complicates matters further when both Carla and Luisa converge to support him ... followed by paparazzi and journalists hungering to know more. Will Guido's new movie, his ninth (hence the film's title), be a hit? Or will it even be made at all?

It’s a little unclear how an Irish actor wound up playing a tortured Italian director, but how lucky the audience is for it. NINE features Day-Lewis as we’ve rarely seen him: whimsical, unpredictable, prone to both rage and passion. He may not be exactly like Fellini’s hero in 8 1/2 (on which this movie is based) -- nor the Guido of the acclaimed Broadway musical -- but no matter: Day-Lewis makes the character mesmerizingly distressed. He’s writer’s block writ large.

Still, fans of both the Broadway version and Fellini’s classic may be disappointed. Some songs have been excised, and Guido’s women are, by and large, not that fascinating, at least not in this version. Hudson’s reporter is a trifle (and not in a way that serves the character); Cruz, though smoldering, is over the top; Kidman is fleeting. Cotillard is the exception, singing with such feeling -- and acting that way, too. It's lovely to see Loren on the big screen again, and Dench also delivers as a jaded costume designer. Nine may not score a perfect 10, but with its rousing numbers and some strong performances, it successfully entertains.

Studio: Weinstein Co.
Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz
Genre: Musical
Run time: 110 minutes
Theatrical release: December 18, 2009
DVD release: May 4, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: sexual content and smoking