AMELIA
RYAN: I licked it. I licked it a lot.
CAROLINE: [laughs’ “Amelia” was good? I’d assumed it might be since it’s an unabashed plea on behalf of one Hilary Swank for yet another Oscar. Which she’ll probably deserve, LBH.
RYAN: Too true. And she serves as the film’s exec producer as well as star so she’s not kidding around here. She’s fabulous in the role but maybe a wee bit understated; not in performance, but there should have been maybe one more meatier scene.
CAROLINE: She’s such a good actress and actually fitting for this role since she actually kinda looks like the real Amelia Earhart – who was not a pretty girl. That wig sure is somethin’!
RYAN: Indeed. Hilary’s no great beauty, she’s very talented and endearing. And she and Richard Gere both do a fabulous job at nailing the American 1930s dialect.
CAROLINE: Seriously?
RYAN: Yes, consistently throughout the film they talk like Audrey Hepburn and Clark Gable.
CAROLINE: Interesting. They must have worked with a coach. How was the rest of the period setting?
RYAN: The sets and costumes are terrific and although this director made one of our least favorite films – ever…
CAROLINE: Wait, which one?
RYAN: “Vanity Fair.”
CAROLINE: Oh gawd! The one with Reese Witherspoon. That movie was hideous!
RYAN: I know. We laughed through it, it was so heinous. But Mira Nair redeems herself with this one.
CAROLINE: GTK. Good to know. Was it too long?
RYAN: You know, it was a bit long and even slow-moving but then it really picks up dramatically and becomes suspenseful.
CAROLINE: I can’t believe you’re talking this much about the movie without having yet mentioned your favorite actor Ewan McGregor.
RYAN: OMG. I die. He is beyond in this movie. He’s just the way you want him: dashing with a side of debonair.
CAROLINE: OK, settle down.
RYAN: I’m, like, Tori & Dean Inn Love with him.
CAROLINE: I know, honey.
RYAN: He has a pretty modest role though.
CAROLINE: Does the movie come across as distinctly feminist?
RYAN: I didn’t pick up on that. But you know, what she accomplished as a woman in her time was great and although we saw the reaction to that and a bit of her challenges, I think they could have built up the challenges a lot more. It would have made the drama more compelling.
CAROLINE: But maybe she didn’t struggle that much.
RYAN: Maybe. It seems her greatest struggle was finding the funds to continue flying.
CAROLINE: What about the love triangle aspect?
RYAN: Well the stakes never got very high, so that was a bit of a disappointment. It’s overall a romantic drama with a lot more romance than drama. Oh, and Mia Wasikowska is in it, in a bit part.
CAROLINE: Who is that?
RYAN: She’s playing Alice in Tim Burton’s upcoming “Alice in Wonderland.”
CAROLINE: No one cares about her yet.
— BOTTOM LINE —
RYAN: It’s a first-rate biopic about a woman who really deserves one. It’s enjoyable to watch and it even gets better as the movie goes along.
— RATING —
