Following the success of Chicago in 2002, which won six Academy Awards, director Rob Marshall aims to repeat the glory in Nine, which boasts several talented, powerful and beautiful actresses singing and dancing up a storm.
Ironically, for a film bursting with creative talent, Nine explores artist's block. Specifically, the artist's block that world-famous 1960s movie director Guido Contini, played by two-time Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis, is suffering.
Guido is about to kick off production on his highly anticipated picture Italia, when he unexpectedly runs out of inspiration.
In an attempt to halt the downfall of his career, he has to face myriad personal problems.
The filmmaker gets lost in his stormy relationships with a sea of beautiful women, who each seduce and confound him, spark his memories and open up his imagination to new possibilities, pushing him into a dream-like zone where creativity flows once more.
Guido's desires, memories and dreams transform into dynamic, attractive musical fantasies, lighting up Cinecitta Studios in Rome, Italy.
The chameleon-like Day-Lewis proves himself a pro in his cinematic debut as a singer and a dancer.
He is well-supported by seven knock-out muses, each with their own vital role to play in helping Guido rediscover his creativity.
There is Guido's long-devoted and long suffering wife Luisa Contini played by French actress and Academy Award winner, Marion Cotillard, who stole audiences' attention with her performance in La Vie En Rose.
Luisa was once his leading lady, and is still the woman Guido can't live without, but now she has taken a back seat to the many other temptations in his life.
She is aware of the emotional price to pay for marrying a famous director like Guido, as she confesses through song ("My husband makes movies") and her husband's behavior brings her to the brink of a momentous decision.
Guido's life is also complicated by his needy mistress Carla, played by Penelope Cruz, who won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Carla is a super sexy woman who has devoted her life to Guido, doing whatever it takes to show his love for him.
The director also has a special relationship with his inspiration and movie muse, the international film star Claudia (Nicole Kidman).
They built their careers through each other, but now, as Guido is desperate for inspiration, Claudia shocks him by turning down the lead role in his film.
A mischievous flirtation for Guido comes in the form of a fashionable Vogue magazine journalist, Stephanie (Kate Hudson), who idolizes him.
Another woman is Guido's costume designer and best friend, Lilli, played by the legendary Judi Dench.
The first woman that took his breath away and "taught" him is Saraghina, a prostitute he met as a child - at nine in fact, one of the reasons for the film's numeric title. The sexy Saraghina is brought to life by the Black Eyed Peas' Stacy Ann Ferguson, known as Fergie.
But the most important woman in Guido's life is his mother, played by Italian screen legend Sophia Loren.
The movie is based on Federico Fellini's 160 film 8*. Then came the musical Nine, which ran on Broadway and won Tony Award before director Rob Marshall brought the massive hit play into the big screen.
Marshall unfolds the drama of an artist's mid-life crisis in his own original cinematic language, emotion, music, imagination and cinematography that visually evokes the lives of Guido Contini and the women who inspire him.
He uses the contract between monochrome and color to tastefully portray the highs and lows of Guido's life and mood.
However, despite its star-studded cast, Nine was a box-office flop in its country.
The award voters, however, don't seem to agree as they awarded the flick five nominations at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) and Original Song. Day-Lewis, Cotillard and Cruz bagged nominations for their acting skills.
Verdict: Eight world-class stars singing and dancing in one movie adds up to a feast for the eyes.
Nine (The Weinstein Company, 118 minutes)
Directed by Rob Marshall
Produced by Rob Marshall, Marc Platt, Harvey Weinstein, John DeLuca, Maury Yeston
Written by Anthony Minghella, Michael Tolkin
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Pen*lope Cruz, Judi Dench, Fergie, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren
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