The Other Boleyn Girl

I decided that I would watch this movie last night- because I like movies that are historical but in a cinematic way- like Elizabeth (a must see, Kate Blanchett is amazing!) or Martin Luther (also an excellent must see!), but this movie, to me, was just TERRIBLE!

I apologize if people liked this movie, but I just could not stand it after awhile. The performance by Scarlett, Natalie and Eric are all quite well done but there was no way they could salvage a terribly written, script that has almost NO basis on the facts of these two sister's lives and the life of King Henry the VIII. I have taken an AP European History class- so I do know the basic story of King Henry the VIII and his split from the Catholic Church and Rome, and then of my own volition I sought out more information about him, as he is a very interesting and famous King. From the beginning of this movie I knew that it was going to be a fictionalized horror for me. Everything from the true status of Mary- she was never considered modest, actually know as a "whore" to most of the English, to Ann's begging of her brother to impregnate her! It was absolutely LUDICROUS! The only reason charges of incest were brought against Ann was to discredit her and have her put to death, there was absolutely NO BASIS in fact of this claim, nor do any of the historians or the accounts of her trial give any evidence to this effect. The fact that a scene like that was in the movie was absolutely ridiculous!

So enough of my historical rant- I did like a couple of things about this movie. I thought that George was ADORABLE, he was likable and funny and just a very fun character- while his ultimate fate is tragic I thought that Jim Sturgess was excellent in his role, he's most famous for playing the lead in the movie 21. I also thought that the costuming in this movie was very well done and was able to paint an interesting picture of the time in which King Henry the VIII lived. The only true historical point I enjoyed that they pointed out was that Ann's daughter would everntual rise to be the famous Queen Elizabeth the I- although the idea that Mary had ANYTHING to do with raising her is RIDICULOUS and the absolute fabrication of hollywood.

When I began this review I was going to give the movie a 2.5/5 but after actually getting my feelings out about it I give it a 1.5/5. It has absolutely no historical fact- if it were painted as a completely FICTIONAL story there might be some potential, but its attempt to remain an at least semi-factual movie just destories any chance it had of being a good movie.