It’s the cheesiness of Grease I can’t bare. The entire hour and fifty minutes is thickly coated with an overwhelming stench of cliché and stereotypes. What’s worse is Grease has found the perfect balance of not being so cheesy that it becomes absurdly funny, but cheesy enough to be frustrating and annoying! To add to this, its quick dialogue becomes pretentious from its poor attempts at paying homage to the golden age of music from the ’50s, while representing the earlier half of the ’70s.
Grease certainly earns its name, but more with regards to its attempts at innuendo. Constant attempts to capture the sexual curiosity of the young teenage characters is cringe worthy, especially when these kids are supposed to be 16, and yet some of them look old enough to be the parents of 16 year olds! It makes me shudder to see middle-aged looking men giggling about brushing past some boobs or talking about willies.
As a musical, Grease really doesn’t have the prestige of other musicals like Moulin Rouge! and Singin’ in the Rain. It was based upon a Broadway musical which was subject to mediocre reviews, and this 1978 film is no different; not surprising with the half arsed attempt at a Western style “riding into the sunset” ending!
