Acclaimed Italian film director Guido Contini (a charmless Daniel Day-Lewis) suffers from both writer's block and a midlife crisis in Chicago director Rob Marshall's pretentious and emotionally static movie. It's based on the Tony award-winning Broadway musical, itself adapted from Federico Fellini's 1963 film 81/2. This version is ravishingly executed in full early 1960s "Cinema Italiano" style (Kate Hudson even sings a song of the same name) but it's fatally misconceived - combining an overblown La Dolce Vita homage with the dull introspection of Bob Fosse's All That Jazz. The stage musical's elegant simplicity is lost, making this little more than a tiresome series of music videos with the women in Contini's life (including Penélope Cruz and Nicole Kidman) singing of their frustration over his errant ways. In a role with more substance than the other star turns, Marion Cotillard is superb as Contini's wife; her heart-rending My Husband Makes Movies lament a show-stopping highlight. But the film as a whole is cold and uninvolving, even with Sophia Loren adding some much-needed Italian authenticity to the retro hollowness.

Arrogant, self-centered movie director Guido Contini finds himself struggling to find meaning, purpose, and a script for his latest film endeavor. With only a week left before shooting begins, he desperately searches for answers and inspiration from his wife, his mistress, his muse, and his mother.