Dark, Beautiful Clothing, Waste of Time

Rating: 1/10 (9 March 2008)

After Reading the well written book by Phillipa Gregory, I was anxious to see the film, hoping upon hope that Hollywood would, at the very LEAST, make it worth watching. They failed, other than at costume design.
Being a bit of a Henry VIII history buff, I devour as much as I can of the actual history. This film leads you to believe that Mary, Ann and Henry VIII were young people in their 20's. Nothing is further from the truth. Henry VIII, was in his late 30's to early 40's, while Mary and Ann Boleyn were merely in their mid-teens at the time that Mary became Henry's mistress. Of course, there's no way Hollywood could show this discrepancy and OBVIOUSLY politically incorrect (yet TRUE) version of history. The sad fact is that young women and girls were thrown at the king (and men in general) and were mere chattel to be used to further their family's prestige and wealth.
The film runs through the story like a runaway freight train, heedless of what was really going on.
My suggestion is skip the movie and read a good book instead.