Hyde Park on Hudson

Kmac Review:

This film was admittedly, and unfortunately, my Redbox selection. Based on King George  VI first visit to the United States, in fact the first visit by any King of England since we got a little uppity about tea, the movie covers the King's time as a guest of FDR at his home, Hyde Park. I open my review with the King because I found him to be the only interesting and worthwhile part of this movie. His and the Queen's debate over whether he should eat a hotdog, because of the comical nature of putting a wiener in his mouth, was pretty funny and a good bit of cultural difference. The actual plot of the movie follows one of FDR's cousins, Daisy, as she has a summer affair with the President. Besides learning the FDR had an Alabamian approach to cousins, sorry Alabama, there wasn't much to the relationship. It begins swiftly with little build up and was never fully established in a way that you cared about the outcome of their relationship. It failed on the romance front. 

I was hoping during the movie to gain some historic insight, set on the eve of us allying ourselves with Great Britain. This part worked decently but took backseat to the sinking romance plot. The acting was ok, which was disappointing as it stared many likable actors such as Bill Murray and Laura Linney. I think it may be that FDR has been played before, and better, by too many people. Even the King and Queen, whom I enjoyed, sat in the shadow of The King's Speech. One positive note is the beautiful scenery which appears to be shot on location. But kind of like a long car ride it gets old after a while. It's very pretty, are we there yet? 

Ultimately it was just dull and I studied History, I know from dull. I give this movie 2 out of 5 Milk Duds and half a Twizzler I found under the seat.

Jmac Review:

Bill Murray’s portrayal of FDR in “Hyde Park on Hudson” was decent, but decent in the way that you’re just watching something, just to watch something. He had the toothy grin down, but didn’t deliver on the cadence or speech patterns of FDR from recordings. A simple Google search could have provided numerous sound bites to alleviate the problem. That being said, there is one moment in film in which FDR is dragging his all but useless legs around a table to reach his desk, and all the while providing King George VI with a great soliloquy about not letting the public’s image of oneself define how you carry yourself. 

While I normally love Laura Linney, and while her acting was one of the only real sources of emotion in the movie, the story line between Daisy and FDR was one of the least appealing portions of the plot. I know that their relationship was the impetus for the script, and it was from her personal letters with FDR, that the plot of the movie was pulled, but it didn’t have enough to carry the movie. While the discovery of her letters upon her death was a huge historical find, it did not translate well into a compelling movie. It almost seemed as if the movie was broken into two sections; a brief intro of FDR being the cousin lover that he was, and another focusing on the visit of King George VI, which used the Daisy story line as filler. 

I personally enjoyed the royal storyline, as it showed the kind of dire straits the British knew they would be facing soon enough, and how they had to essentially beg for American support. This support which they saw as having a good possibility of not coming, because of how ethnically diverse America was with large portions of its population originally hailing from then Axis aligned nations. As a side note Samuel West’s portrayal of King George VI was good, but Colin Firth he is not.

The wardrobe department was the real star of the movie. The clothing and costumes were beautiful and exact or nearly exact copies of what everyone worn during that time. 

Just referring to the wardrobe and shoot locations the movie gets 4 out of 5 hotdogs (movie reference), but for the movie over all I give it 2 out of 5 lend lease destroyers.