Review of Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) by Jo F — 17 Jan 2017

In "Florence Foster Jenkins" (which I saw on Amazon on demand), Meryl Streep plays an opera singer with a terrible singing voice and a large group of friends in 1940s New York who won't tell her the truth.

Streep has already won a best actress in a comedy award in Critics Choice voting, but lost out to a slightly better singer (Emma Stone) in the far better "La-La Land" in the Golden Globes. Streep is well-suited to play a not-so-good singer--a role she's played in "Mama Mia," "Ricki and the Flash," and SEVEN other singing roles! (Seven, really!) To me, it's the supporting players that really make this a comedy worth watching, especially Simon Helberg as her pianist.

Hugh Grant plays the character he also plays, but he does it especially well as her husband. Supposedly based on real events, there's plenty in the late stages of this movie that make the action hard to believe, but none of that detracts from what is, overall, a pretty satisfying comedy.

If you're looking for a movie to watch with an older audience, this is perfect. 7/10.