Saucy fun while it lasts, but empty. The two leading ladies are horrible.

Rating: 5/10 (20 December 2008)

Entertaining enough while it lasts, but ultimately a throwaway costume drama. It doesn't really even resonate for longer than 10 minutes after the end credits. But it's still kind of fun to watch badly miscast Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johanssen give horrible performances as the Boleyn sisters. Scarlett Johannsen's sultriness is smothered by her passive role as Mary, and Natalie Portman fails to deliver in her big emotional scenes as Anne. Eric Bana's King is pushed into the background by the focus on the sisters, so he never really gets a chance to give us insight into the much-married King. Despite all it's flaws, I still found the royal intrigue enjoyable enough to while away a lazy Sunday afternoon. And I do enjoy anything with costumes. Sets and design were quite nice, but it was a shame to see Kristin Scott Thomas become part of the furniture in her thankless role as the mother of the girls. Luckily she is getting major wraps for a new French drama, "I've Loved You So Long", so I can stand it. If you want good period drama this year, see "The Duchess", with a much better leading lady in Keira Knightley, and all-round better production.