Half of World's Living Oscar-Winners Populate First Nine Trailer

The first trailer for Rob Marshall's Nine debuted online this morning, and it seems to fulfill the promise of its development-phase hype: Flash, music, skin, bombast, set pieces, and a cross-section of Oscar-caliber talent going back almost 50 years. But does it make any sense? Does it even need to?

The key here is to not really know anything going in (even if you do), so forget momentarily about the riffs on Fellini and 8 1/2, and just accept the abstraction that is Daniel Day-Lewis's moody, neurotic filmmaker Guido Contini. Accept also that you won't hear his Italian accent; the trailer entrusts its lone dialogue to Judi Dench, and the rest is a ADD orgy of belting, writhing and Marshall's stagy, signature light-bending.

Not to mention some primo stargazing comprising the women in Guido's life: There's Nicole Kidman! There's Penelope Cruz! Hey, Marion Cotillard! OMG Sophia Loren! What's Fergie doing here? It's the glitziest noise since Dreamgirls, but with better taste and, in all likelihood, some seriously longer Oscar-season legs. And in the immediate term, Harvey gets to steal back some attention from the prestige circus that is Cannes Day 2. Everybody wins!

VERDICT: Sold!

· Nine Trailer [Apple]