The Music Man

It's hard to make a persuasive case for trying to duplicate the sunny perfection of the original MUSIC MAN (1962), especially when the results are so listless. 1908: Professor Harold Hill (Matthew Broderick) is a travelling charlatan in an age when footloose salesman rely on their good names for repeat business. He breezes into River City, Iowa, and convinces the locals that the festering delinquency of their children can be cured by getting them involved with a brass band. Hill promises shiny instruments and spiffy uniforms, winning over the Mayor's wife (Molly Shannon) and the impressionable citizenry, including sad, fatherless Winthrop Paroo (Cameron Monaghan), b...