Review of Being Julia (2004) by Jacob S — 15 Jan 2012
Annette Bening is at her most brilliant playing an aging but ever-manipulative stage actress of the 1930s. She was robbed of her Oscar for the second time, as her sparkling performance here far outstrips that of eventual winner Hilary Swank in the dreary Million Dollar Baby.
Being Julia is a competent little period comedy, which might lack the dramatic weight or 'respectable' moralising of its contemporaries but instead provides an intelligent and guilt-free sense of unabashed fun, as Bening's Julia jumps from illicit affairs to her madcap attempts at keeping her star the brightest in all the West End.
The finale is utterly brilliant, and sets Julia almost in a league with the legendary Margo Channing as Hollywood's most devilish on-screen actress. This is a brillianly fun movie.
This review of Being Julia (2004) was written by Jacob S on 15 Jan 2012.
Being Julia has generally received positive reviews.
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