My Week With Marilyn
Director: Simon Curtis
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.5
A go-getter (Eddie Redmayne) looking to make his way into The Business somehow manages to land an assistant director position for Sir Larry (Kenneth Branagh) on his film The Prince and the Showgirl and, while on set, becomes a temporary "friend" of Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams, who ain't Theresa Russell). An exercise in star-worship, this puff piece plays out like an adolescent fantasy of seeing a beautiful woman in the nude - "Hey, I got to skinny dip with Marilyn" sounds fun as nostalgia, but it almost seems to undercut the real-life problems Monroe had and even her miscarriage is treated like Just Another Bad Night. The anti-elitism is also irritating, as Branagh's Olivier - a genius stage actor - eventually has to admit Monroe has a "gift" for being in front of the camera (despite a lack of natural acting talent or an ability to remember lines). To paraphrase Peter O'Toole, she wasn't an actress, she was a movie star.
