Great film with the right level of expectations...

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2008)

I walked into the theater to see The Other Boleyn Girl with extremely low expectations. I am not a Scarlett Johansson fan, and Natalie Portman has had her fair share of roles where she's left us wanting more. I assumed Eric Bana would be the bright spot in this nearly two hour long chick flick.
After leaving the film, I found out my initial assumptions could not have been any more the polar opposite of the film itself. Both the female leads (and in fact almost all the female characters) were played remarkably, and I felt that Natalie Portman specifically really outdid herself with portraying the emotional distress of her character. Eric Bana, conversely, was not cast properly for this role. Perhaps after his portrayal as Hector in "Troy" there was an assumption he could play royalty, which may indeed be true, but not not in this movie. And lastly, this is most definitely NOT a chick flick.
The film did step fairly closely to the realm of clichés, but the dialog and acting was credible enough to outweigh this. The costumes were not too elaborate as to take away from the film, and neither was the background music or camera work (both of which I found to be excellent).
Those who go in to see this movie as a film version of the television show "The Tudors," be warned. This is not a chick-flick television show dragged out into 2 hours on screen, and has a few fairly suspenseful (and to some) frightening moments. Those who intend to see an accurate historical piece should also be warned; though the historical content of the movie to some extent seemed accurate, this film was not written by a "History Channel" employee. If you go in to the theater to see a well-acted and scripted drama, which will open your eyes (if you had no previous knowledge) to the story of the Boleyn sisters, then you will be very satisfied, and will most likely leave ranting and raving about this film.
8/10