Nov 16, 2009 21:33
I just saw Amelia.
How I wish my next words were a recommendation to take your female friends to see it.
Amelia was, in essence, a movie that appeared to have two scripts. One of those scripts was an amazing feminist movie about female aviators in the 30's, which passed the Bechdel Test, and was about a woman who wanted to fly, and who went from simply being a figurehead, a passenger on a plane, to flying in her own right.
The other script was a badly written romance, with Richard Gere and Ewan MacGregor as the love interests.
Sadly, the romance script won.
I could rave for ages about the costuming of the movie - it was accurate, in character, and followed the shifts over the decade of time covered. Plus, it was absolutely gorgeous to look at.
But if I'm raving about the costuming of the movie, then the actual plot sucked.
There are some gorgeous scenes, most especially when Elinor Smith met Amelia Earhart for the first time, the Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby, and the dinner with Eleanor Roosevelt.
But it's really not worth sitting through the whole move for just those bits. I would have liked more childhood and motivation from Amelia, more about the Women's Air Derby and the founding of the 99's, and more about her rivalry with other female pilots.
And, in addition, that's the second movie this year where Christopher Eccleston's been sadly underused. Though I cackled evilly at his accent in the movie. It's atrocious.
recs,
movies