Review of My Week with Marilyn (2011) by Palmer R — 28 Aug 2012

Marilyn Monroe essentially invented the modern celebrity: she was the first to pose naked, the first to use her own sexual wiles in a movie, and the first to be remembered for all of that. Unlike our Kardashians (and Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Lindsay Lohan, and so many more celebrity flameouts), this one happened to gain some odd sort of respect for this. Now, unlike the rest, she didn't have a sex tape, and from the constant conversations about her I've overheard from older relatives, the nude pictures were quite tasteful. Unlike the rest, she could back up her own image. She died young, true, but she's one of those mystical characters of an earlier time, like Dorothy or that bitchy woman from "Gone With the Wind" (The one bright spot of that overrated piece of trash is Clark Gable, now THAT man is cool).

Now, on to the movie. It is essentially a more historical version of "The Girl Next Door" or any movie where some schmuck hooks up with one of the hottest girls in the world. That's literally the whole story. Young kid gets to bone Marilyn Monroe AND Hermione in one movie. Look how cool he is.

It's a damn relief that there's honest to God actors here. Michelle Williams imitates Monroe perfectly, and Kenneth Branagh kicks ass as he always does. The rest of the cast doesn't get much else to do other than watch the two of them argue, Branagh as classic actor Laurence Olivier. Watch this if you have a Monroe fetish or if you like either one of them.