A beautiful film laboring under a ridiculous script, so bad it's funny

Rating: 4/10 (2 March 2008)

I love historical fiction, and I do not require it to be all that accurate. But I generally don't want to pay 9 dollars to see a soap opera.
Henry VIII is already, all on his own, an almost cartoonish character. The challenge in adapting movies about his life is bringing something new to his story. The Other Boleyn Girl tries very hard to do that, but unfortunately pushes this story so over the top the movie is actually kind of funny.
We open with a wheat field, which makes me feel like I'm watching Gladiator, and are introduced to the Boleyn family with some very stilted dialogue between Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife. While these family scenes are supposed to introduce us to the family and their sibling dynamics, it's really just wasted air time. We then flash forward immediately to Mary Boleyn's first marriage, and get introduced to Mary's desire to have a simple life, which is then instantly interrupted by the arrival of the English Court and her placement (once Anne fails at the task) as the mistress to the King of England.
The rest of the movie Anne's seduction of the king and eventual fall, a story almost anyone who's taken a British history course knows. But rather than let the king's moodiness and indecision speak for itself, this film goes so far over the top. Anne is rushed back to England to keep the king from straying in a scene that reminded me so much of the Ring Wraiths I laughed. She then proceeds to seduce the king, actually hammering out the details of their agreement while her sister is literally howling away in the next room as she gives birth to the king's bastard. It's just too much.
The drama continues to it's natural conclusion. Spoiler alert: in an ending as shocking as the sinking of the Titanic, Anne Boleyn loses her head. In an added twist, we're supposed to believe Mary Boleyn then rescued Elizabeth from court and raised in the countryside by her aunt rather than her actual miserable child, which would be okay if the scene wasn't again was so overly dramatic and ridiculous with all the court stepping aside as Mary flees with her niece.
I saw an amazing amount of potential in Scarlett Johanssen and Natalie Portman in this film, but they are so bogged down in a ridiculous movie. Natalie Portmanin particular shows some real talent in Anne's breakdown, but it is at the very end of a film that had already lost me as a serious picture. The supporting characters are not helpful. On the bright side,it has beautiful costumes and scenery, minus one really bad bluescreened Westminster Abby shot.
I enjoyed it, but not for the reasons I should have. I would wait to rent it on DVD.