The Golden Bowl
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Movie Reviews of The Golden Bowl
Movie Review: The Golden Bore
Summary: 1 Stars
If you enjoy a stultifying plot, wooden acting, and symbolism so heavy handed it will knock you across the room, then by all means purchase this movie. If not, wait for something to come along with Emma Thompson or Helena Bonham-Carter, or anyone who has some business appearing in a costume drama, which no one in this movie does.
Jeremy Northam is Amerigo, an Italian Prince who marries Maggie (Kate Beckinsale), daughter of "America's First Billionaire" (Nick Nolte). Along comes Maggie's childhood friend and Amerigo's ex-lover Charlotte (Uma Thurman), who marries Maggie's father so that she can stay close to Amerigo and muck up everyone's happiness.
The lead actors seem to have set aside any acting talent they may have once possessed in order to deliver their lines like first-year high-school drama class students (except for Beckinsale, who doesn't seem to have ever had any talent to set aside). Uma Thurman bugs her eyes out and tries to carry off an odd amalgam of Bette Davis in "Jezebel" and Lucy Lawless in "Xena: Warrior Princess". Nick Nolte's delivery is so stilted and deliberate, I suspect he may have thought he was getting paid by the hour. Not to be missed is Jeremy Northam's "Italian" accent, which is so bad one expects him to burst forth with " 'At's a spicy a-meatball! " at any second. Speaking of bad accents, Angelica Houston is along for the ride, and her inflection mutates from Southern Belle to Regency country girl, WITHIN A SINGLE SENTENCE. Give this one a pass, and go re-watch a Jane Austen adaptation until something better comes along.
Movie Review: Avoid this one
Summary: 1 Stars
A warning, to all who enjoy fine movies, and especially to anyone who reads Henry James with pleasure: this movie is a horror, badly written, dismally acted (as if by teenage amateurs), melodramatic and superficial and vulgar, at times even cartoonish in the famous Merchant Ivory settings. James's psychological penetration is difficult to capture in a film, but an infinitely superior job was done 30 years ago in the BBC version with Cyril Cusack, unfortunately only available now on used VCR -- a performance too quiet for today's clamorous market, but quite superb.
As for this one, centered on the clumsy inept performances of Beckinsale and Thurman, unless you can see it as a very clever satiric send-up of its own genre and of American wealth and "culture", the only reason to watch it is to see just how bad an ambitious and expensive film can be. If you haven't that perverse interest, avoid it.
Movie Review: Excruciatingly Boring!
Summary: 1 Stars
This movie was just plain BORING. I am a great fan of Merchant-Ivory films (A Room with a View is one of my all-time favorite movies), but this movie was extremely disappointing in contrast with their other films. I watched it all the way through because I kept thinking 'it has to get better.' Unfortunately I was wrong and it didn't. I haven't read the book, but definitely won't now. It felt like they had all the right ingredients; great cast, great director, and beautiful locations, but they just couldn't pull it all together in the end. I am surprised that there are so many good reviews for this movie, as the only extraordinary thing to me was how dull and uninteresting it was.Movie Review: Major Disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
As a student of the Merchant Ivory films (Howard's End, Room with a View, Maurice, Remains of the Day, and Mr & Mrs Bridge)I found Golden Bowl to be all glitter but no gold. The acting, plot and casting were all single-star ratings. James Ivory must have just given up his artist standards.