Review of The Scarlet Letter (1995) by Carla K — 13 Feb 2012

I give it two stars because this is a really great movie hidden underneath a really terrible one.

The script is just atrocious. Some of the corniest, least well-thought out lines in cinematic history. The directing is also very bad, with cliched shots that only make the film worse, not make up for the terrible script.

However, the cast, with the exception of Demi Moore, is fabulous. Gary Oldman, already arguably the greatest actor today, gives a phenomenal performance full of charm, sexiness, and emotion. The fact that he was able to pull off such a beautiful performance with the piece of crap script he was given means he probably should have been nominated for an Oscar. The rest of the cast is great, too. Each person - except for Demi Moore, who's just okay - gives a heartfelt performance that would have garnered possible nominations if they were in better films.

The design is also beautiful. The cinematography is gorgeous, the costumes amazing, the production design brilliant.

So sad good performances and design elements were wasted with such a terrible script and direction.