Nobody likes a pretentious failure, and that's exactly what Rob Marshall's Nine was. Give that Marshall's previous musical, Chicago, won Best Picture at the Oscars (and scooped him a Best Director nomination), Nine was widely touted as a Best Picture front-runner before it even began screening for press and voters, and with an all-star cast including Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and Kate Hudson, why would you expect anything less? Awkwardly straddled between being an aloof, campy musical and serving as a rousing homage to Fellini's 8 1/2, Nine was an ambitious if also rather pompous failure that turned off both audiences and critics in droves. It did scoop 4 Oscar nominations, for Art Direction, Costume Design, Best Original Song, and most peculiarly, a Best Supporting Actress nod for Cruz. Worst of all, Day-Lewis went home without even a nomination, which should be as big an indication of the movie's creative failures as anything.