Glamorous film with the ups and downs of melodrama.

Rating: 6/10 (25 April 2010)

Well what do you know, Anne Boleyn has a sister. Even more interesting, she gives King Henry the son he wants, that should make everything okay right? Well not exactly. If the movie ended there The Other Boleyn Girl would be a mere forty minutes in running length. The remaining fifty-sixty minutes, are a bloated mess, quite uninteresting and not very sympathetic. Even so, The Other Boleyn Girl doesn't end up being a bad movie. It's a gorgeous looking production, and it has a few exceptionally dramatic scenes, but the whole thing just doesn't amount to very much.
Personally I've never been fond of Natalie Portman. She strikes me as more of a 'girl' than a 'woman' in all her roles, and not simply because she is small. She plays more of a woman here, though I think she is more interested in looking pretty rather than powerful. Eric Bana is much better as King Henry. He is not just a pretty face.
The Other Bolelyn Girl, is pure melodrama, which is all it intends to be I guess. The whole thing just feels too loose, and unorganized, sometimes that can happen when adapting a book. It is best looked at as a smart chick flick.