'Les Miserables': Russell Crowe responds to Adam Lambert's criticism

Russell Crowe has stepped up to defend Les Misérables after American Idol finalist Adam Lambert skewered the movie via Twitter.

Over the weekend, Lambert released a multi-tweet review of the film in which he said while “visually impressive,” “the score suffered massively with great actors PRETENDING to be singers.”

Ouch. (He also singled out Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Tveit and Samantha Barks, who played Eponine, as the exceptions to that assessment.)

But Crowe, who plays Javert in the film, defended the film in a response to a fan yesterday, saying that he didn’t disagree with Lambert and that while the music “could have been sweetened,” director Tom Hooper “wanted it raw and real, that’s how it is.”

Lambert is far from the only longtime fan of the musical to have a mixed review of the movie, but regardless of the continued debate, the film’s soundtrack debuted at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Soundtracks chart, selling 43,000 units. At the box office, Les Mis won Christmas day and finished third over the weekend with $28 million in ticket sales.

Twitter recap:

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285528003327438848

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285528513308667904

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285528755475185664

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285529089635385344

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285530043139100672

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285530548808609792

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285530893978857472

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285531349199241216

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285592877738901505

https://twitter.com/adamlambert/status/285531521954230274

https://twitter.com/russellcrowe/status/286268029417951232