Jenny Rogers

Lured in by positive reviews I saw May December. Wished I hadn't. What a terrible up itself film. Far too much lipstick, too much flicky hair. Too many mirrors, where was the humor the critics spoke of? I couldn't see it. 36 year old has an affair with 13 year old. No, no, and no. Not funny or OK. Overwrought. Pretentious, deeply boring.

Stick to the book is my advice. The core problem with this movie is the casting. ‘Jo’ and ‘Meg’ are years too old to play teenagers; ‘Amy’ never looks 12. ‘Marmee’ is too young. The male love interest looks and acts like a kid so he and ‘Jo’ are excruciatingly wrong. What is also hilariously awful is casting Bob Odenkirk as the dad. He is also far too old for the part: can anyone imagine him and Marmee in bed? Odenkirk is a fine comic actor. He looks shifty and embarrassed in every scene as well he might. They all do their best but the result is pretty awful. Also the over-ripe lighting is terrible. No natural light EVER gives people that giveaway orangey glow.

Far too ambitious for the thin material. It looks like an actory improv class that went wrong but still gives people lots of opportunities for much screaming, shouting, swearing and throwing themselves about: something probably they have not had a chance to do since drama school. The film has no narrative drive, it is shapeless. Billie P is a brilliant actor but the character she has created here seems lifeless for all the full-on gurning, laughing, frowning, joke-telling etc etc that she does. The sound is muffly and there is far too much music. Even at 87 minutes it felt too long.

I regret every minute I spent watching this movie. The ponderous pace, wooden acting and sheer stupidity of the plot made it one if the worst films of the year for me. The stagey ‘horror’ was ridiculous and the lack of engagement from the cast was embarrassing to watch.