Enjoy It for What It Is

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2019)

"The Favourite" is a film with lots of visual beauty, and it uses it to distract from lots of ugliness.
-Analysis of Notable Work- *Writing/Directing: The story within "The Favourite" is rather uninteresting and petty. It feels an awful lot like an 18th century version of "Mean Girls." It relies heavily upon being absurd in order to generate laughs, however it often falls short of bringing laughter. Lanthimos is given way too much credit for this film and is praised for his wacky style. Personally, I don't get it. *Cinematography/Editing: The cinematography is simply distracting. It looks beautiful, sure, but it distracts from the film. The fish-eye lens looks so out of place and ridiculous. Robbie Ryan seems to confuse beauty with duty in this film. The camera moves completely took me out of the 18th century feel. That may have been the point, I just think it is dumb. The editing is on par for what it should be. *Dialogue/Acting: Some interesting dialogue choices. It keeps interest throughout the film. The acting is quite impressive. Emma Stone delivers one of her best performances. She manages to not be cringey which is always a feat for her. Rachel Weisz is brilliant as always. Olivia Coleman shines as the least shiny human being in the film. Nicholas Hoult delivers a great supporting performance. *Music/Sound: Very average work in these departments. *Production Design/Special Effects: The sets and costumes are phenomenal. One of the highlights of the film without question. Every single part of the frame was gorgeous. There are not many moments involving special effects, but they are believable when they come around.
*Conclusion: "The Favourite" is a decent film, but nothing overly special to rant and rave about. It was entertaining and enjoyable, but with likely be forgotten in a few months time, or at least it should be.