I know that "Easter Parade" has a reasonably high IMDb score and a lot of folks liked it, but it left me flat. I for one wanted to like it, as I adore Fred Astaire and try to watch all his films. But, unfortunately, while the film looked nice, it lacked the sort of stuff that made many of Astaire's movies great. Sure, it had singing and dancing but it also had Astaire playing a rather unlikable guy, lacked charm and style as well as having way too much singing! Too much singing? Yep--or at least the TYPE of song and dance numbers were not all that great. So here, instead of having Astaire sing and dance because life is grand (the BEST reason to sing and dance in a film), it was because he and his partner were professional dancers on stage. And, insanely, MGM decided not only to show their dance numbers but practically ALL the other numbers as well. It made for a variety show sort of film but it also made the plot seem rather unimportant and also dragged the film to a grinding halt. For example, after Judy Garland and Fred profess their love for each other--there were several dance numbers that had NOTHING to do with this. Too often, the film failed to work towards enhancing the plot--and the songs were just there. It's a shame, too, as the plot wasn't bad and Fred and Judy could have made this a terrific film--but the writing and direction just did everything to make the film drag. Heck, after a while, I found myself just wanting it to end already! And that is NOT what I expect from a Fred Astaire film!