Review: ‘The Greatest Showman’ turns Hugh Jackman’s P.T. Barnum into a hero, and cons the audience in the process

Film Critic In a more honest or at least more interesting version of “The Greatest Showman,” P.T. Directed with bland competence by Michael Gracey from a script by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, “The Greatest Showman” is both a fitful hoot and a remarkably upbeat con job, one that seizes upon Barnum’s talent for hoodwinking his customers and tries to foist it in turn upon the audience. Unlike the stage musical “Side Show,” a Broadway revival of which Condon directed a few years ago, “The Greatest Showman” doesn’t unfold primarily from the perspective of its “Oddities,” as Barnum’s performers are known here. Nor is there any mention of Joice Heth, a slave whom Barnum paraded before his customers, falsely claiming that she was George Washington’s 161-year-old former “mammy.” I mention this not out of any need for strict historical accuracy — strictly speaking, there is nothing about this movie that anyone needs — but rather to explain why “The Greatest Showman,” for all its celebratory razzle-dazzle, in the end feels curiously lacking in conviction. ------------ ‘The Greatest Showman’ Rating: PG, for thematic elements including a brawl Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Playing: In general release See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour » Movie Trailers justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang ALSO ‘Mudbound’ tops Mark Olsen’s 10 best films of 2017 ‘Call Me by Your Name,’ ‘The Florida Project’ lead Justin Chang’s 12 best films of 2017 Kenneth Turan’s best films of 2017 include ‘The Shape of Water’ and ‘The Post’