Review of Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) by Peneflix M — 17 Dec 2012

Hyde Park on Hudson is a British biographical comedy-drama film directed by Roger Michell. The film stars Bill Murray and Laura Linney as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Margaret Suckley. It was based on Margaret Suckley's private journals and diaries discovered after Suckley's death, about her love affair with and intimate details about President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It all started in June 1939, King George VI and his wife, the Queen Consort Elizabeth (parents of the current Queen Elizabeth II) made a visit to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's country estate in Hyde Park, New York. At the same time, the President was growing closer to his sixth cousin and eventual mistress, Margaret Suckley. No British monarch had ever visited the U.S. before, and Roosevelt hoped to bolster American support for the United Kingdom on the eve of World War II, which broke out less than three months later.

Going into the film I had high expectations. Two words and two words only came to mind - BILL MURRAY. Being a long-time fan of his (especially in Wes Anderson films) I believed despite what the story would be, Bills acting could keep the film together enough that I wouldn't be tempted to give it a bad review. Unfortunately this was not the case.

I don't know if I've ever seen a movie as spectacularly one sided as Hyde Park on Hudson. Once again Hollywood has taken something and decided to pimp-it-out as a totally different product - A work of historical debauchery about Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The news that FDR probably had affairs with a number of women, including a possible longstanding romance with his sixth cousin is dispiriting but not surprising. The only thing I would ask from director Roger Michell is for a more developed well rounded portrait of FDR balancing his strengths and weaknesses with a clear eye to both national and personal responsibilities, but instead Michell gives us a creepy sexual predator.

Although it was great to watch Bill Murray romping along as FDR, not even his acting could save this film. If you take FDR out of the picture and pretend you are watching a movie about a perverted old man romping around the state of New York, it has its moments. I give Hyde Park on the Hudson 2/10.

@TheFelixKay.