Mrs. Henderson Presents
Written by Martin Sherman
Directed by Stephen Frears
The Weinstein Company
2005
Rating:


"Mrs. Henderson Presents" vainly attempts to sustain itself with the forceful comic hauteur of Judi Dench's performance as the titular owner of a semi-nude vaudeville theater. The gambit may have worked, as it mostly did in last year's similar, Annette Bening-propelled "Being Julia," except that Dench's Mrs. Henderson is limited to committing capricious acts of scandal, accusing people of being Jewish and zinging one-liners so stale one swears they must have been lifted wholesale from a British sitcom circa 1983.

There's more to Mrs. Henderson than meets the eye, as we belatedly learn in the film's final reel, but the revelation for why the wealthy widow really invested in an upscale burlesque doesn't ring true.

Just before World War II, Mrs. Henderson's husband dies. She's so affected by the loss that, after a brief crying spell in the middle of a pond, Mrs. Henderson declares herself bored with mourning at her husband's wake. The widow takes advantage of her newfound unrestricted wealth by buying the Windmill Theatre on London's West End and naming the Dutch-Jewish Vivian Van Damme (Bob Hoskins) its production manager, apparently for no other reason than that Van Damme refuses to put up with her shenanigans and his heritage provides Mrs. Henderson with a wealth of nearly anti-Semitic humor.

The Windmill's vaudeville show "Revuedeville" initially has a solid run, but when ticket sales lag, Mrs. Henderson suggests that the show feature nude women. Despite an apparently deeper reason for the proposal, the idea is presented as arbitrary, just like the limitations imposed by West End censor Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest) — the women may expose their breasts, but they can't move and there is to be no "foliage."

Director Stephen Frears ("High Fidelity") manages to keep the film a "frivolous distraction," as Mrs. Henderson would call it, but when World War II arrives with bombs falling on London and "Mrs. Henderson Presents" tries to become an "important picture," the film loses all sense of itself.

Based on a true story, the Windmill really was important to London during the war, providing entertainment for the troops when the rest of the West End closed down. The soldiers are often seen in the audience but are only really given a voice by an American GI who comes across as lovestruck for star topless model Maureen (Kelly Reilly), but really only wants to sleep with her. Coupled with Mrs. Henderson's proclamation that "all soldiers die in vain," this film stops being a musty comedy and turns into one with a view of the military that's as seriously confused as "Jarhead."

Posted Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/film/mrs.henderson.presents