Crash landing! Swank's Amelia may take off -- but never lands
Joe Stumpo
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: A&E
|
PG, 111m., 2009
Cast & Credits: Hilary Swank (Amelia Earhart), Richard Gere (George Putnam), Ewan McGregor (Gene Vidal), Christopher Eccleston (Fred Noonan), Cherry Jones (Eleanor Roosevelt), Mia Wasikowska (Elinor Smith),William Cuddy (Gore Vidal). Screenplay by Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan based on source materials from the books East to the Dawn and The Sound of Wings. Directed by Mira Nair.
Amelia, much to my dismay, falls into that category I refer to as the "one-note performance movie." If such a term exists in Webster's, I am sure the definition is much different from the negative one I have in mind.
The "one-note performance movie" is (1) the type of film where it literally is all about the actor/actress in the leading role and nothing else matters, be it the plot, the screenplay, or any of the other supporting characters. I also define it as 2) a movie so bad, the actor/actress knows it, yet they make the best of their leading role, giving a stand-out performance.
I have seen less than a handful of "one-note performance movies" this year and that is not a good thing. If the Razzies came up with such a category for the first time next year, I would add Dakota Fanning from Push, Sienna Miller from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and Seth Rogan from Observe and Report.
Add Hillary Swank's performance as "Aviatrix" Amelia Earhart to the list of competitors of which there can be only one winner for a Razzie Award in the "one-note performance" category and I predict Swank would win by a landslide. At least that's who I'd vote for.
Swank is no doubt a dead ringer for the real Amelia Earhart in terms of appearance, so much so I find it eerie. We even see her freckles, which is something "the vagabond of the skies" didn't want captured in pictures and newsreel footage of her. Her publicist and eventual husband George Putman (Richard Gere) agreed.
I am amazed sometimes at how actors are made to look exactly like the actual people to the point you could almost be fooled into thinking you are watching the real thing. Val Kilmer looked exactly like singer Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991). The same went for Denzel Washington in his role as controversial African-American leader Malcolm X in Spike Lee's 1992 film.
Be the first to comment on this story