The Queen
Written by Peter Morgan
Directed by Stephen Frears
Miramax
2006
Rating:


"The Queen" is a sequel of sorts to director Stephen Frears' BBC movie "The Deal," and "The Queen" should have been likewise confined to the small screen. A tabloid sitcom only superficially more sophisticated than Trey Parker and Matt Stone's short-lived George W. Bush satire "That's My Bush!" Frears and screenwriter Peter Morgan ("The Last King of Scotland") revel in exploding Tory feelings of fidelity to Queen Elizabeth II as if the notion were brand new.

Where "The Deal" follows Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) as he convinces Gordon Brown (David Morrissey) to step aside in his bid for Labour Party leader in 1994, "The Queen" finds Blair (Sheen reprising his role) persuading the tradition-bound Elizabeth (Helen Mirren) to modernize and publicly mourn the death of Princess Diana in 1997. The film is only revelatory in the depiction of the queen performing such common, modern tasks as driving and watching television.

"The Queen" never accomplishes itself as a cinematic effort — the characterizations are cartoonish (Mirren plays Elizabeth like a slightly more restrained Dame Edna and Sheen portrays Blair as a bobblehead), the themes minor, the aesthetics rote and the narrative dull. Most sophomorically "The Queen" features an extended metaphor about the hunt for a great stag and its eventual fate as a figurehead. This simply isn't great moviemaking; it's bad HBO.

Posted Friday, January 5, 2007

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/film/the.queen