Completely Overrated

Rating: 4/10 (26 September 2006)

This movie shows the power of marketing. As history clearly records, the Weinsteins shoveled this thing down the throat of every Academy voter - the first instance of a studio bringing the "academy campaign" to the public's attention. They created a false buzz about how good the movie was, immediately setting off a "me too" reaction. No one wanted to be the critic who didn't "get it." The same thing later worked for that piece of high-school drama level garbage - "Titanic."
Before this film was up for Oscar contention, all the payoffs, favors and heavy-handed sales-pitches went on behind closed doors. However, the scheme was a resounding success because this very mediocre film, with very decent, yet not exceptional, performances, took home three Oscars - including best film. To anyone who isn't aware of how Hollywood works, don't for one instance be fooled into thinking this was really the "best picture" of 1998. It just had the hardest-hitting academy campaign. And because it won best picture, some audiences have convinced themselves that what they saw was actually something special. Marketing - it can work miracles.
As for the film itself, it is definitely a lot of fun to watch. While it's got its moments of melodrama, Fiennes is affable and does a nice job of giving a silly story some gravitas. Judi Dench, who laughably won the Oscar for best supporting actress, despite having only minutes of screen time (remember that campaign!) is quite effective - very cold but with a noticeable undercurrent of humor at the absurdity of the existence of a "Queen." The weakest performance is Paltro, who does a fine job, but never draws you in enough to care much about her character. The big finale, which is supposed to be a gut-wrenching separation, never reaches that emotional level because Paltro fails to convincingly expresses inner desire. Oh well. Who cares - it's good clean fun while it lasts!