Movie-The Other Boleyn Girl

I generally like period pieces set in the time of the Tudor's, especially if they focus on the political/royal intrigues of that era. So I went into this movie looking forward to it.

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) focuses on the relationship that young Henry VIII had with Anne and Mary Boleyn. Henry, king of England, was already married to Catherine of Aragon, but she was not going to give him a male heir, so the Boleyn family tried to set Henry up with Anne. However he took a fancy to Mary.

Starring Natalie Portman as Anne, Scarlett Johansson as Mary and Eric Bana as Henry, I came away from this movie disappointed. It was many times melo-dramatic about the wrong things: instead of looking at what the effects of Henry's pursuit of Mary and then Anne (who he eventually marries and then kills) on the kingdom of England, it instead looks at the melo-drama in the lives of these characters. And it just was not as interesting. They should have at least looked at both...maybe the personal drama as a reflection of the turmoil England was going through.

And thought I like Portman in many things, this role did not seem to suit her at all. She seemed out of place and not into the role, much as she tried. I always underestimate Johansson, and here she did a fine job. And Bana was pretty good as Henry, though again we did not see enough of him ruling the kingdom.

All in all, a film that was OK, but did not nearly meet my expectations.