Review of The Iron Lady (2011) by Meredith W — 09 Jul 2014

"The Iron Lady" is a passable biopic, but all of that is on the back of the powerhouse performance by Oscar winner Meryl Streep.

Telling the story of the rise and fall of long-serving controversial British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, this movie was doomed to skip over many of the key parts of Thatcher's life due to the entire length of the story. Even then, director Phyllida Lloyd chose to spend most of the 100 minute run time exploring Thatcher's twilight years as she suffered from dementia and repeatedly comes to grips with the death of her husband.

It all leads to dry, uninspiring stuff, even if it is designed to try and portray Maggie the person, not Thatcher the politician (whose views still divide British society to this day). The primarily British supporting cast, that includes thespians such as Jim Broadbent, Richard E. Grant and John Sessions as well as Game of Thrones alumni Harry Lloyd and Iain Glen, does an admirable job with what their given, but they aren't given much.

But Streep fills into her role as the PM quite brilliantly, and certainly deserved that Oscar. But the film as a whole? Generally uninspiring.