Review of Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) by Kyle M — 07 Dec 2014

In "Hyde Park on Hudson," Daisy(Laura Linney) spends most of her days caring for her invalid aunt(Eleanor Bron). That holds true until she is summoned by her cousin Franklin(Bill Murray). To her, it does not matter that he is the president of the United States, just that he makes her laugh. And she makes a good companion for him, especially in giving him hand jobs. That holds true until a planned visit by the king(Samuel West) and queen(Olivia Colman) of England.

Have you ever heard of a movie getting trampled by bad reviews and then wondered how it could ever be that bad when it apparently has everything going for it? And then watched it only to find out that yes it is that bad? Well, for me, that movie is "Hyde Park on Hudson" which contains lots of lovely period detail and technically fine performances but outside of Olivia Williams as Eleanor Roosevelt, all of this is as lively as the average wax museum.(When are we getting that Eleanor Roosevelt biopic anyway?) Plus, there is the repetitive and unnecessary narration and a point of view that is superfluous at best which admittedly does point out that British American relations were a little rough in the years before PBS.