It took almost all of 2024, but there is now zero doubt about what film will come to define this year, at least in the short term. It’s Wicked of course, which is well on its way to finishing at the top of box office standings for the year less than two weeks after its release. Its clout extends well beyond the financials, of course. There aren’t many films - certainly none released this year - that can get four New York Times columnists to opine at length about everything from the message to the broader societal meaning of its popularity, but we now know Wicked can.
For my part, I don’t have any grand take on the it film of this year - not yet at least. I enjoyed Wicked very much, which is a credit to it as I am not really its target audience. It does feel like a bit of a Rorschach test whether you’re a cinephile or just have a cultural axe to grind. After all, it’s simultaneously sort-of recycled intellectual property and yet a quite original and distinctive retelling of one of the most familiar cultural touchstones of the 20th century. There’s probably no stronger signal of its cultural penetration and its range of interpretation than the fact that MAGA types are split, some viewing it as woke trash and others seeing Elphaba as a stand-in for Donald Trump and a victim of the deep state. These people are aggressively wrong (as usual), but the very fact that they are talking about it and can’t agree says it all about how central this is to the zeitgeist.
We’ll be talking about Wicked clear through until March, so while I form a more considered opinion, here are three stray thoughts on the film after my first viewing.
1. It’s not the music
The music has been on repeat in our cars/house since we saw the film the day after Thanksgiving. That’s not exactly a surprise with two pre-teen girls who, unlike me, absolutely are the target audience. What is a surprise, to me at least, is how unmemorable most of the music is. Yes, yes, “Defying Gravity” soars and “Popular” is a confectionary delight, but unlike, say, Hamilton there is almost exclusively musical filler in between the signature numbers.
That might come off as a criticism, but in reality it is a credit to director Jon M. Chu and the rest of the behind-the-scenes people who translated this from Broadway to major motion picture. After all, it’s hard to change the music when adapting it for the screen, but just about everything else can be interpreted, expanded upon, and given a pastiche of production value that’s not possible on the stage.
Wicked looks great, from the costumes to the heavy index on practical production design to the use of wide shots to add scale and spectacle (see below).
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It is also perfectly cast. Michelle Yeoh might have offered the flattest performance, and anytime Yeoh is the weak link in a cast, you’ve got a really good cast.
2. The Wizard and Guh-Linda are characters for our times
Much as Wicked is a radical retelling, it doesn’t change much with the Wizard. In fact, part of enjoying it is appreciating its willingness to point out the obvious fact that the Wizard is a total charlatan, fraud, and coward.
The Wizard of Oz doesn’t deny this fact. Instead, it breezes past it in the name of getting Dorothy back to Kansas. But, again, the Wizard is a total fraud! He relies on style over substance and brings nothing of value to the table. This is a terrific insight in its own right - certainly enough to merit a re-examination of the whole story - but it feels especially relevant as the once and future President of the United States prepares to retake office. He is a charlatan, fraud, and coward in the exact same vein as the Wizard.
Guh-linda, meanwhile, played so brilliantly by Ariana Grande, suffers from the kind of Main Character Syndrome that feels less politically bent but still universally applicable in these times. Everything is about her - how she feels, what she has overcome, and so on. She’d love social media.
3. Really? Two parts?
Perhaps the most disconcerting moment of the entire film is in the opening credits, when it’s revealed this is just Part 1. I’m told by reliable sources I’ll be quite tickled by the second part, but having committed almost three hours to this story already and having seen what I’m told are the two best musical numbers, I’m not exactly thrilled that there’s more to come.
We have a full-blown editing crisis in television and film - mostly the former and not the latter - and I’ll be carrying that baggage in to next year’s conclusion.