Two headlines this morning caught my eye: Justin Timberlake winning trophies at last night's American Music Awards and good word-of-mouth about Dolly Parton's stage version of her comedy classic "Nine to Five." We've all used this blog as a forum for our displeasure at the current trend of taking the same old story and swapping it back and forth between stage and celluloid...and I guess in the current state of striking writers, original ideas are more scarce than ever. But what happened to Justin Timberlake's movie career? The guy can seemingly do no wrong when it comes to making music, but his three films in 2006 all disappointed after tremendous hype (even I was starting to think there might be some acting skills there). Of course, you can't count his Voice Over work in "Shrek the Third." Will a comedy with Mike Myers next year ("The Love Guru") resurrect his chances of big screen bounty?
I miss the era of lavish, colorful movie musicals. "The Pirate," "Singing in the Rain," "Damn Yankees," "A Star is Born" or anything with Esther Williams. Even director Alfred Hitchcock managed to find a way to work Doris Day's wonderful singing into the plot of the thriller "The Man Who Knew Too Much." Que Sera Sera! Thank goodness for the occasional Baz Luhrman or Rob Marshall venture to remind us that some of our celebrities actually do possess musicality. Catherine Zeta Jones, Antonio Banderas, James Marsden, Queen Latifah and Hugh Jackman really can do it all and they don't need to sign up for "Dancing with the Stars" to prove it! Is "Nine" the only big budget movie musical we have to look forward to? I'm sorry I can't get worked up about the prospect of a Shrek stage show. Frankly, the guy wearing the costume at the Universal Studios theme park kinda creeps me out. 
Stars should consider brushing up on their song-and-dance talents. Judy Garland could break your heart with a torch song. Gene Kelly wasn't less macho because he did ballet. Great actresses like Natalie Wood, Audrey Hepburn and Deborah Kerr didn't let questionable singing skills stop them...they just had Marni Nixon on hand to dub their musical numbers! Hey, Nicole Kidman, Richard Gere and Meryl Streep have all braved the microphone in the name of art. Who's to stay Justin Timberlake couldn't be the next Bing Crosby if he set his mind to it!? "Der Bingle" crooned himself all the way to an Oscar! 
I think this could be an interesting career path for someone like Lindsay Lohan. She's young and talented enough to exploit her talents and the bonus would be a great opportunity to reinvent herself while revitalizing her movie career. If Shirley MacLaine really wanted to mentor Lilo, she should have dragged her into a dance class! Why do we have to wait for the all-too rare "Moulin Rouge" or "Sister Act" flicks to come along to give us an excuse to tap our toes?
