I had been eagerly awaiting the release of this film for the last year or so. Each time a trailer was leaked online I would cream my pants with giddy excitement. Every clip further fuelled my belief that this would be one of the most magnificent films of 2012. So as I sat in the cinema, memorised by Meryl Streep warbling: “DENNIS!!” Every 5 minutes, I realised something was not quite right. It’s certainly not Streep’s performance that’s thrown my guts into a tiz woz. So what could it be…
Immediately from the start you realise this film isn’t going to be the biopic epic one was hoping for. Starting rather humbly in a corner shop, where we see an old Baroness Thatcher buying some milk. After some lengthy and unnessercery scene setting Margaret finally starts remembering the good old days and her rise to power… About chuffing time! But alas, it doesn’t last long, and we are soon transported back to the present, forced to watch Thatcher deal with the menial task of chucking out her dead husbands clothes. This flitting back and forth through time doesn’t settle down either, leaving you feel just as confused and as tired out as the present day Baroness.
When the film finally reaches the juicy parts of Thatcher’s volatile career it is glossed over in montage. The Falklands getting about 10 minutes of screen time while her involvement in bringing about the end of the cold war got a mere 3 second clip of her dancing with Reagan and some old news footage of the Berlin wall falling. It would seem the director (Mama Mia’s Phyllida Lloyd) is far more interested in speculating on the current mental state of the former Prime minister. An interested I doubt the audience share with the director.
Of course Streep is outstanding. Her eerily accurate portrayal of Thatcher doesn’t waiver one bit. The rest of the supporting cast do a fine job also. Olivia Coleman’s Coral Thatcher is hilarious. At one point Margaret turns to Carol and tells her she has ‘far too much spare time on her hands’ and ‘she should find something to do’. Carol then looks up pondering…I’m a celebrity? The joke didn’t seem to be lost on the audience either who roared with laughter.
While the film is saved by Meryl Streep and its stella supporting cast, you come out of the cinema feeling a little cheated. Rather than the juicy, biographical, epic bonanza the movie poster promises, you get a rather expensive looking episode of Waiting for God
Craig Ford
(Follow Craig on Twitter: @craigyboy84 @GayNetworkChat)