'An American In Paris'

Watching Gene Kelly films and the endless series of tap sequences, it makes you think about space. Kelly dancing is no big deal. He's great and him playing twinkle toes for an hour and a half just proves that. But space is the most intriguing part of his talent. Like the scene where he dances on top of the baby grand piano and in the small room. Or when he does the sequence with the children on the sidewalk -- just a 10-foot stretch of walkway to do his entire 5- or so minute sequence. It's not what he does, but where he does it.

As for the film, there is no doubt "An American in Paris" is one of the vastly overrated films of American cinema. I can handle 2-hour films. But when the characters are largely unlikeable (hell, we barely get to know these people), the writing is not nearly as funny for a comic-romantic musical, the songs are so-so and there is relatively no plot ... well, it all adds up to be one crappy cinematic stew.