YNMS: Florence Foster Jenkins
Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 5:39PM Murtada here. Stephen Frears recent output has been uneven. This month, his Lance Armstrong biopic The Program was met with lukewarm reviews and a VOD purgatory release, while Lay the Favorite (2012) and Tamara Drewe (2010) were both immediately forgotten. However he does well when teamed with grand actresses in intimate dramas (The Queen, Philomena). So we are cautiously optimistic about his collaboration with Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins. The story, of an amateur opera singer, known and ridiculed for her very bad singing and her complete delusion about her abilities, is intriguing.
Let's break down the newly released trailer..... after the jump.
Yes
The lady is a lesson in courage and that’s why we love her!
- Meryl Streep - duh!
- Meryl again because even when the movie she’s in is not working, she gives her fans a lot. I left Ricki and the Flash lifted on a multitude of emotions because of her performance. If we get half that it will be worth it.
- Am I the only one who misses the Hugh Grant of the mid 1990s? His last decade has been full of very forgettable silly comedies. Can Meryl bring out his best? Like Emma Thompson, Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts did before her.
Ours is a very happy world
- If the complex relationship, with her husband and manager, that made Florence’s delusions possible is fully explored, we could get a very special movie.
- Nina Arianda sighting! Again Meryl invites a Broadway diva to join her on screen. Remember how great Audra McDonald was in Ricki?
No
She can be a little… flat
- The trailer goes very broad. Is this how the film plays or is it just a ploy to sell tickets? Hope they bring the heart and soul too.
- The poster is ugly. Does not entice anyone to see this movie.
- The taglines are also suspect. Why are they linking the story of this eccentric oddity to “Be Inspired” and “Live Your Dream”? Not only generic but a tad dishonest. It's just marketing but when there is dissonance, it usually means they have no faith in the film.
Maybe So
Someone ….. with passion
- I’ve only caught a couple of episodes of The Big Bang Theory here and there and I wasn't impressed. Simon Helberg seems to have a substantial part here. Will he be up for the task?
- Marguerite, the French movie that is inspired by the same story, is out this week in limited release. Will this one fail in comparison? After all it's star Catherine Frot won the best actress Cesar.
- The trailer and the poster are for the UK May 6th release. No news of a US release date yet. What gives, Paramount? This is not Serena or Suite Francaise… or is it?
So what say you? Are you in?
Reader Comments (38)
I can't say that any of this including the preview fills me with a burning desire to see the film. Meryl and Hugh seem a good match but that's about all. I'll wait for the reviews. So I guess that makes me a maybe so.
Love it when Meryl brings the comedy ham.
Wow, Hugh Grant playing Meryl love interest. Just like what happens in castings for girls, but on the other way around. Only Meryl can pull that off.
I don't watch trailers but I am a YES. Catherine Frot just won a César for playing a very similar role.
I am a yes! It looks entertaining, funny and warm, all desperately needed. And it looks like a love story starring over 50 actors, which is shocking in today's film market. My only question: Why is Pathe releasing the film in the UK in May, but it has no US release date? If the movie is good, it should also open in the US in May or June, oui? Good luck to Frears and company.
I'm a Yes - Hugh Grant looks very good with her. (11 years younger)
Boundaries are being broken, Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, etc, continue to work and play leads in films. I love it.
Btw. Robert Redford has signed to do a movie (Discovery) and Rooney Mara will be his love interest. Yes love interest - he's 49 years older than Rooney. But he is a man.
I'm so glad there's someone else who's excited about a Nina Arianda sighting!
The trailer looks v promising!! Luv the sets, costumes, make-up & of cos Queen Meryl!!
A Golden Globe nom plssssssssss
The tag lines feel so off for what Florence's actual career was like. I appreciate the comedy and if "Live Your Dreams" is for marketing, so be it, but this looks like they're advertising something very different from what they're selling, if they're still selling the story of a genuinely untalented woman who was popular for being untalented. Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant look amazing, though, and I'm loving that age difference and everything they're doing onscreen together.
It's a yes for me. Streep seems to be in Julie & Julia mode! I just love it.
No to Rooney Mara making cinematic love with Robert Redford. I hope that is a rumor, unless it's a Spotlight about grandpa incest. This, yes.
"...and she was a BAD ACTRESS" - Death Becomes Her
Over 10 Million viewers every week, and yet Simon Helberg gets no name, despite having all of the comic reactions.
It doesn't even explain that she was bad at it. Just some rich lady who felt like trying out opera. What's so "astounding" about that?
I'll make it a Maybe So, but only because of Streep.
I do not look at trailers either.... But I am a huge Streep fan...
So it is a big YES for me. The
They are keeping her voice hidden as a marketing hook.
FWIW, her husband (this one that Grant is portraying) was 7 years younger.
I already hate it.
Love it! Yeeessssss!!!!
Frears when he brings a little sweetness is a delight. Streep. Hugh Grant. HOW CAN I BE ANYTHING BUT YES?
I'll come for Meryl but stay for Hugh. And all the headpieces.
Well YES of course. Like... always.
And if it comes to a 20th nomination for Meryl... I think this would be perfect to round up everything. ;)
But we'll see.
As for the poster..... I'm pretty sure the real FFJ would have LOVED it. Ah, so kitschy!
And please Nat, PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE watch at least the TBBT episodes where the great Christine Baranski appears as Leonards mother. She's just AWESOME. (but I think/hope you know that already)
Looking at the trailer, I felt something I thought I would never feel: I felt tired of Mery. I aknowledge the great actress she is, but there are also some other who are just as great and it´s such a shame the monopoly that exists with all the older women parts.
Also I feel that after The Devil Wears Prada, all her performances feel like cartoons (speciallly in Osage County).
I´d just like her to step back for a few years, save her strenght and come back and do something really great as she has in the past. Just my opinion.
Hasn't she been off the screen for 2 years? I don't buy the argument that she must go away for 3 or more years, especially when she is 66. We want her to keep working and breaking records. PS, I know that I do work a lot, but I also turn down many, many projects.
@Jessica - she was just on screen last summer in Ricki.
@Lalo - I agree. I like Meryl a lot but there are a LOT of other talented women in her age group that I'd also like to see in some of these roles.
Having said that, I'm a Maybe So leaning toward Yes. The screenwriter doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, and Frears is inconsistent but interesting. This could be entertaining fluff with an interesting relationship at its center or just...fluff.
She does not hog the movies.. all older actresses are getting fine parts... the movies just fail and we do not see them.
I do not know how Streep got this wrap.. Moore for example, seems to be in every other movie out there. I hope there isn't "Moore fatigue"
Lalo... You obviously know nothing about the play August:Orange County .. She was Violet..
the entire cast ( almost ) were spot on. Now Doubt is another thing.. it was quite poor.
Name another movie that was cartoonish... her comedies were relatively subtle.
Thank you for correcting me. I forgot about those recent films and have so little time for watching other people's movies. I do think though she has not worked for over a year, and has no other upcoming films on her schedule.
Last I checked, Helen Mirren works much more than Meryl Streep, and I don't recall anyone accusing her of taking all the parts for women! Meryl gets flak because she is good and has been more or less the dominant actress for about 40 years.
Sure, Helen's IMDB page looks busier, but a lot of it is TV movies, voice work, one-time theater performances shown on film, etc.
But it's great that they're both working.
I think Simon H. is alright in TBBT, but I became a fan of his after seeing him in A Serious Man in which he played a young rabin("Just look at the sidewalk" God I love that scene ).
Merly is in Julie and Julia mode and I really like that. Also Linda Emond is not in this film, so she doesn't need to worry about someone stealing her scenes. (Go back and watch the "And not a penny more!" scene from J & J, and look how Linda OWS everything and everyone. I could write entire sonets dedicated to her eye rolls.)
So I'm really happy that he's again in a movie directed by one of my fav. filmakers. Hopefully his is a juicy supporting role, and this is beginning of a new phase in his career.
Also can we take a moment to notice how well Hugh Grant has aged AND how good he looks in the trailer. He looks like the older version of his characther in The Remains of the Day. Trust me thats a complement. In TROD he was F-I-N-E.
PS: I agree with Sonja, Nat. ALL the episodes of TBBT in which Christine B. guest stars are worth seeing just for her. That lady has a killer comic timing.
@rick I do belive when you begin an argument with "you obviously know nothing...", I Think you have run out of arguments and credibility even before you begin to argue. As I said, MY OPINION is that in particular in August Osage she was all over the place (and I do not Think I 'm alone here). If YOUR opinión is that she was Violet, good for you.
All I was saying is that some of the roles she has taken in the Last decade could have been better served by other actresses that don't have the chance to shine aS often as Streep (Tomlin, Ramplin, Danner to name Just Last year example's). Definetly there were more suitable actresses for Into the Woods, Doubt, The Iron Lady. Once Again, JUST AN OPINION
Oh gawd, not another Streep-stole-all-the-roles jibe again. Aren't people tired of saying something as senseless as this? Get over it! Streep, Helen, Judi, Vanessa can get compete for any roles they desire and if they get it, fine with me but if they don't, fine with me as well. I don't understand all these sour grapes. It's like a group of people constantly whining about a select few of their other friends being more successful and happier than they are.
Life is never fair - DEAL WITH IT!
I adore all the passion. Doubt is one of my favorites for all four leads great,
@Lalo. You did not add "about the play"I taught the play in a college course
Saw the play on Broadway and Estelle Parsons in San Francisco
I simply meant seeing the movie without the background , one could feel it
Was cartoonish.
No offense was meant.
@Lalo
In Nathaniel's review of AOC, he gave Streep an A. She did receive
An Oscar nom!!!
@rick Yeah, Meryl Streep was nominated and Emanuelle Riva lost to Jennifer Lawrence. I do not think that Oscars are the most trustable way of recognizing a good or bad performance or movie. But to each its own. Cheers.
I'm sorry, but any film with Meryl Streep is a no-go zone.
Lots of people love her and think she is a great actress.
I fail to see it, as I can't see beyond the annoying tics that were evident as far back as Heartbeat, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Out of Africa, and have continued into Mamma Mia and beyond.
The presence of Hugh Grant makes it a double no-go zone, although he looks good in a tux, and his hair may not be falling into his face in this one.
Heartbeat is not a film. The reviews for FFS have been good in the trades.
@Timmy -- my apologies, I meant "Heartburn".
While I'm back again, let's not forget the atrocious "Evil angels".
I'm not surprised that the reviews are good, but having seen too many clunkers from her, I don't watch her films if I can avoid it -- but it's only my opinion, it's a minority view, and won't affect the opinions of her fans or her box office cred.
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