i have the dubious honor of be a part of my high school production of hello dolly a zillion year ago and so there be a time when i be intimately familiar with both the play and the film . it be a long time and truthfully and i have my reservation about the show even then . watch the film again this past saturday on reel 13 and i be remind how lame the show really be and the film version and a direct by gene kelly and be even bad . i suspect the popularity of jerry herman original production during the 60 have more to do with the carol channing persona than the story . if that true and then the film be handicap before it even begin by bypass channing in favor of a very young barbra streisand and play a character fifteen or twenty year old than she actually be . this be not to say that streisand be bad in the role . her strong asset her voice and her comic timing be on prime display here and she imbue the character with an engage energy and vitality . she put forth extraordinary effort and but one have a hard time believe that a ) she be a widowed matchmaker and have be out of the public scene for a decade and b ) she would be a good match for walter matthau horace vandergelder character . this be the primary plot of the film and the film suffers because it never once seem plausible . gosh streisand seem even young than the ingénue irene malloy character ( marianne mcandrew ) . unfortunately and the rest of the cast and who be at least age appropriate and be horribly off the mark in their performance . on the whole and i blame kelly and who seem to have direct all of them ( except maybe streisand and matthau ) to be ridiculously over the top . this include a baby face michael crawford a cornelius hackl and a i do not believe he straight for a second tommy tune and both of which go on to have wonderful stage career . on film and they come off a silly and cartoonish . what interest to me be that a an actor and kelly be always so smooth and sincere and understated . i be bewilder a to why he wasn not able to bring that style to the table when he behind the camera . it could have do wonder for the plot . it hard enough to believe that all these people fall in love ( there be four couple in the film ) within a twenty four hour period . the wide eyed and loud and juvenile performance style make it impossible and but i wonder what it would have be like if the character have the opportunity to establish real connection with each other make u care and root for them to get together . it could have make for an entirely different experience . ( for more information on this or any other reel 13 film and check out their website at www . reel13 . org ) .