Copacabana

First off...I'm a Manilow fan, so my review of this movie can be considered a bit skewed. But, seeing that probably only people who ARE Manilow fans will be viewing this movie, I guess that's OK. For you Fanilows, please change the rating above to an 8, simply because Barry looks good in this and his charm shines through his mediocre acting ability. Obviously, the plot revolves around his 1978 mega-hit "Copacabana." If you know the song, you know the movie, but there are a few twists in the storyline. Annette O'Toole is FABULOUS as Lola--she's sweet and sexy, and doesn't have a bad voice herself. Mr. Bologna does an OK job as Rico, but it seems he's playing the same part as he did in "My Favorite Year." I kept waiting for him to ask if they were serving tongue at the Tropicana! Barry is the real star here. He shines in his songs "Sweet Heaven" and "Who Needs to Dream" and there are nice snippets of him playing some of his album-cut classic tunes as a piano bar performer throughout. The movie itself is a nice way to spend about an hour and a half of your time, but is necessary viewing for all Barry Manilow fans.

OK, I have been looking for this movie for years, I can't believe it's FINALLY on DVD. ( I too had a worn out VHS copy that I lost). My sis & I can practically sing every song from this movie....We've loved the song copacabana since it came out (I was a little kid at the time) so when they made a movie about it we were stoked to watch it, and watch we did, over & over. This is campy fun, with great costumes & one of the few musicals with cuban characters (albeit not very authentic) so if you like Latin music & choreography and enjoy great original songs...you'll love this movie. All of Manilow's songs here are well-written & are woven into the story in a pretty ingenious way. So do the merengue & the cha cha, you're at the COPA!

I must admit, I am a Barry fan, and any one who is will certainly enjoy this movie. However, even those who may not consider themselves fans will find this lighthearted musical comedy to be a treat. It's fast-paced, the musical numbers are splendid, and Barry Manilow is a surprisingly good actor. I wonder why he never did any more theatrical roles, other than this. Unfortunately, the DVD offers no additional insights or extras on this movie, a dissappointment. All in all, if you are a fan of the romantic comedies of yesteryear, "This one's for you, where ever you are...". They just don't make 'em like THAT anymore!

it was just SO great to see Barry in his first movie, i LOVED it so much.. he was excellent , ive been a fan of his for over 25 years and it was so neat and awesome to see him in the movie , he is so very talented and this showed off his talents perfectly !!!

I saw this movie when it first came out in and again several years later, on CBS also. Well the 2nd time around it was horribly butchered clearly to put its run time under 2 hours and stuff it full of commercials. I've been trying to find it that longer version for years cause yeah hey, Barry's on screen for more than an hour; I can live with that .

Okay Barry's passable actor. He's not as good as Gene Kelly but not as dismal as Neil Diamond (Two minutes of the "Jazz Singer" remake with Diamond on screen was all I could stomach). It has the distinction of being of 4 TV movie musical I could tolerate. The musical numbers are above average and the setting (refetrring to the time period) has a more authentic look than many movies over the last 20 years taking place in the 40s or 50s. Baring that sad ending; it brought back to mind MGM musicals.

My gripe with this movie, why I'm giving it an 8 is Tony, the character Barry plays--What (acting) reach is he doing??? He's playing himself! Manilow nut me has read books about him, every article I could get my mitts on and the background story is his life with a little tweaking here and there. Wish he had put himself in another movie genre first. As good entertain as it was, the chosen role for his debut was not a very good one.