Singin' in the Rain is an amazingly fun movie. The plot follows silent film stars Don Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Hagen) as Hollywood begins shifting to talking pictures after the success of The Jazz Singer. Lina has a scratchy voice and the mental capacity of a five year old. She takes the tabloid stories as fact and believes that she has an intimate real-life relationship with her on-screen partner Don. But Don hates her guts; he's closer to his best friend Cosmo Brown (O'Connor). At a party, he meets the young Kathy Selden (Reynolds) and falls in love with her. Unlike the rest of his teeny bopper fans, she doesn't even recognize him. And once she finds out his occupation, she thinks even more lowly of him. He sets out to win her over. I'll leave the rest of the story for you to discover yourself.
The movie is not without a few problems. There are some random, unnecessary scenes (like that last Broadway dance number) and the story is fairly simplistic and predictable. But those problems are masked by the fact that this movie is such a joy to watch. The characters are fairly bland, but they are portrayed with heart and emotion by each actor. You want to grab them off the screen, hug them, and tell them it's going to be all right. There are some clever twists to keep you intrigued and a wealth of absolutely delightful jokes to keep you laughing. You smile the entire time. The dances are phenomenal in every sense of the word. They are a breath of fresh air in the modern world of close-ups, quick cuts, and CGI effects. You feel the energy and vivacity at every moment. You are happy to watch this movie. And despite any nit-picky faults in cinematography or editing, that is what makes this movie great. And that is what keeps me coming back and watching this movie again and again.IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/