Review – Tommy

The Who and director Ken Russell serve up the quintessential “rock opera,” an amazing bit of self-aggrandizement that floats somewhere between vaguely clever and virtually unwatchable. I suppose fans of the group will probably get a bigger kick out of the music than I did, even though part of it’s being belted out by several actors – including Ann Margaret, Oliver Reed and Jack Nicholson – with dubious singing credentials. I got a genuine kick out of the Acid Queen, Cousin Kevin and Uncle Ernie sequences, though that might have been just because the numbers involved at least simulated physical discomfort for protagonist Roger Daltrey. And of course Ann-Margaret rolling around in a mess of beans and chocolate syrup is a sight everyone should see at least once. But beyond that, this tale of a “deaf, dumb and blind kid” who achieves divinity through suffering and pinball is far too stupid and self-indulgent to come anywhere close to being as profound as it seems to think it is. See if desperate