I thought this movie was incredibly charming. Zhenya won me over first thing with his glasses, then with his guitar playing. There was something about his vulnerability that was appealing, as opposed to being demasculating. I think he was made even more likable, because he wasn't an alcoholic. It was the one time he got that plastered, and Fate allowed the "comedy of errors" to ensue.
I was turned off by Galya from the beginning. However, I couldn't tell you why. Maybe it was because she wouldn't answer Zhenya with a straight "yes" or maybe it was because his mother didn't fully approve of her. Either way, I wasn't that upset when things went awry for the couple. Also, probably because he's such an opposite to Zhenya, and because I had an inkling of where the love story was going, I had the same reaction to Ippolit as Zhenya. I got agitated every time he came back to the apartment.
I was a little confused at the necessity for so many songs. I love music, I love musicals, and one song (or even two songs) per character would have sufficed. I understand that the songs tended to either a) expand on the current situation, or b) foreshadow a coming situation, but I started to get anxious every time I heard a guitar strum.
Some of the comic elements I enjoyed: the drunkenness at the bathhouse; the repetition of the bathhouse story "Every December 31st . . ." and "You shouldn't drink so much" (especially because Zhenya doesn't normally drink); the fish in aspic; Zhenya and Nadya's entire first encounter . . .
I would really like to see this movie again.
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Interesting thoughts, and I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. And I like the way you put it with regards to Galya: I too don't want Zhenya to end up with her, though it is hard to put one's finger on what exactly is "wrong" with her. Both of your suggested reasons seem quite possible. Perhaps there's also a certain air on her part of taking Zhenya's proposal for granted?--and the world in this film (or "fate," if you will) seems to favor the unexpected and spontaneous rather than the prosaic and predicted.
My strong hunch is that you'll come to love the songs more and more each time you watch the film in the future (and the lyrics of those songs are poems written by some of 20th century Russia's finest poets: Bela Akhmadulina, Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak and Yevgeny Yevtushenko). And as you suggest at the end, this one you'll want to come back to again and again!
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