[rating: 3/5]
Let’s not mince words or hide behind pleasantries. “Hyde Park on Hudson” is Oscar bait. You could put this film inside a cage, leave and come back in a few hours to find you’ve caught the entire Academy.
Does that make it any less deserving of being shown at the Savannah Film Festival? Does that make the film any less than expertly filmed, the set and costume designs any less than spotlessly accurate? No, of course not.
The problems with the film come from entirely different areas.
It’s June 1939 and King George VI (Samuel West) along with Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) are visiting President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Bill Murray). All three hope that the visit will bolster American support for the UK as World War II looms closer.
At the same time, Roosevelt is growing closer to his distant cousin Margaret Suckley (Laura Linney), who would become his mistress.
On paper, this sounds like a promise of gripping drama. Certainly, at least, some good conflict would come out of a storyline with that kind of a synopsis. Unfortunately, that’s a promise that never comes true. The movie does not have conflict so much as it has small arguments peppered throughout that are resolved almost as soon as they’re brought up.
King George VI is feeling apprehensive about Roosevelt’s feelings toward the UK and him as monarch? That’s all right, just one night of drinks and jokes with the fatherly president and he’s right as rain.
Margaret discovers she’s just one of FDR’s multiple mistresses? We get a grand total of one night and about half a day of her being angry with him before she tells us, in a voice-over, that she’s already forgiven him. Yes, it was a different time, and yes, he’s the President of the United States of America, but at a certain point, it just doesn’t work well in film.
There’s little if any identifiable story arc that really makes you feel like something is on the line. The specter of World War II, the catalyst for the King and Queen even being in the US, is reduced to a mere plot device.
But at least we have Murray, West and Colman. These three are the brightest spots of the film, and their scenes are a welcome breath of fresh air after spending so much time with a predictably melodramatic main plot, such as it is.
Murray absolutely nails Roosevelt, showing a funny, playful and flawed man underneath the legend. Independent of his womanizing ways, Murray plays Roosevelt as a man weighed down by the pressures of his office, every now and again losing control and shouting loudly. But Murray always manages to bring Roosevelt back to Earth, and while at the end we may not agree with some of his lifestyle choices, we get a clearer picture of the man.
Likewise, West and Colman give the King and Queen the adorable charm of an awkward pair of foreign exchange students. They struggle to accommodate to American customs while at the same time desperately trying to prove themselves worthy of being leaders, especially King George VI. True, one can’t help but make comparisons to “The King’s Speech,” but West and Colman bring their own style to the characters, which set them apart.
Besides, if “Hyde Park on Hudson” wants an Oscar as badly as it seems to, there’s worse movies to be compared to.
