Who are The Miserables?

The Miserables are:

1. Those who walk barefoot through the snowy forest, or the rainy streets of Paris.  Also, those who go to see this film on the coldest day of the year in a barely heated theatre.   My fingers were actually going numb at one point.

2.  The citizens of revolutionary Paris, whose plights are too treacherous for speech.  Also, the broadway actors who no doubt could have blown some of these roles out of the water given the chance.

3.  Jean Valjean who lost so much time to slavery, and the movie goer who glances at their watch thinking, "I bet they are about to wrap this whole thing up," only to find there is another hour of musical left to go.

I could go on but my point is simply that this movie made me a bit miserable.  I'm not panning it, it wasn't the worst thing ever, but I couldn't get lost in it or swept away by it or something.  Some of the performances were really great.  Anne Hathaway's gut-wrenching song is quite an achievement and made the viewing worthwhile, but there was also a good bit of boredom involved.

There seems to be a musical number-to-emotional-impact ratio that works for me.  In some cases, a song can get right to the heart of your feelings on a subject so much faster than dialog, visuals or explanations.  However, this style of musical numbs me to song and I am far less moved by a sing-song expository scene about parole than I would be a nice bit of acting realism.

I'm glad people enjoy this film.  It wasn't for me.  And I can't see how it has a shot at best picture.