Review of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) by Clark B — 26 Jun 2010

Elizabeth Taylor is an icon of the movie industry, she's a legend for crying out loud, but she just didn't make enough good movies. "Cleopatra"? Please. Have you ever sat through "Butterfield 8"? She won an Oscar for that one and it's terrible. She must have slept with someone. "A Place Under the Sun"? I get sleepy just typing the title. If I have Turner Classic Movies on and I don't know what's coming next and that guy says "..next, Elizabeth Taylor stars in this touching '50s drama..." I know it's going to suck.

She was a good actress though, she's excellent in this movie, but Marylyn Monroe had more good movies under her belt than her. That's a shame because Elizabeth Taylor was twice the actress she was.

This movie is a darkly humourous exploration of.. um.. well.. love, I guess. Have you ever hung around that couple that fights constantly, right at the dinner table, in front of everyone, but they stay together no matter what? You quit hanging around them because it's too embarrasing. Years later, you're amicably divorced yet you still see that couple together in the supermarket? They're still fighting, right in the middle of the store, apparently they haven't killed each other yet and they're still together. Yeah, well, that's what this movie is about. That couple and whatever weird glue holds them together. It's funny as hell, but tragic too. This movie serves bitter laughs. It gets a little arty at the end, silly if you ask me, but I love it. Maybe I'm just a little arty and silly myself and I want to figure out that couple's secret.