Sing Out, Florence!

Finally got around to seeing Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep, a few days ago. My interest in what Variety used to call "longhair" music is pretty limited. But there was something intriguing about this woman who made it all the way to Carnegie Hall as a singer, despite every indication of lacking the requisite talent.

The part of me that relates things to classic comedy couldn't help envisioning what Carol Burnett in her prime could have made of this as a skit. Watching the film, I was picturing Harvey Korman in the Hugh Grant role, with Tim Conway taking Simon Helberg's place as the hapless accompanist.

But even if Florence Foster Jenkins was, as one memorable character declared in the film, "the worst (expletive) singer I ever heard," the filmmakers, with Streep's considerable assistance, find something touchingly human in her story. Many of us, in our younger years, had big dreams, whether they involved a concert hall or some completely different arena. When we reach middle age, or beyond, what will we do if they haven't quite come true? Do we adjust our expectations? Resign ourselves to disappointment? Or do we do as this woman seemingly did, and forge ahead undaunted? As she purportedly said, "They may say I can't sing, but they can't say I didn't sing!"