Oscar Watch: The Queen

So Oscar season is upon us, and as I discovered only recently, it's a lot shorter than normal. The Academy Awards will be handed out less than 2 weeks from today (a month earlier than in past years), which doesn't give me too much time to see the Best Picture nominees and form an opinion about which movie deserves to win. But surveying the field, it doesn't look like any of the nominees is a runaway favorite. I've already posted some thoughts on Letters from Iwo Jima, which I think is very deserving despite the fact that it's a total downer. Today, I'll post some thoughts on The Queen, which I took the Wacky Chinawoman to see this past weekend.

The first thing I tend to do before going to watch a movie is to check the rating on Rotten Tomatoes to make sure I'm not wasting my money. Exceptions can be made for poor ratings (Snakes on a Plane immediately comes to mind), but for the most part, I try to avoid paying $10 for movies that are reviewed poorly; those movies can wait for DVD or for the TiVo to capture on HBO. The Queen scored a whopping 98%. My cousin observed that a really high rating like this doesn't actually mean that the movie is exceptional--it only means that it is a good, solid movie with nothing particularly objectionable about it (which implies that it is not a particularly daring movie either).

The Queen fits this description pretty well. It's an excellent movie with great acting and a thoughtful story, but it's not a film that will stick in your head as a GREAT movie several years from now. It is noteworthy for several reasons:

1) The central characters are well-known public figures who are still relevant today, and the story centers around events that occurred not too long ago. This is actually pretty weird. Imagine going to see a serious movie about President Bush and Dick Cheney going about their jobs in 2002, with say, Tom Hanks and Robert DeNiro in the leading roles. The only other similar movie I can think of is "Primary Colors," where John Travolta played Bill Clinton, only the name of the character wasn't Bill Clinton.

The major characters in The Queen? Well, that would be the current Queen of England, the Queen Mother, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and current British Prime Minister Tony Blair. And the story is about the week following Princess Diana's death 10 years ago.

2) It's embarassing how ignorant I am when it comes to the British Royal Family. I had forgotten that the Queen's child is Prince Charles, not Princess Diana. I also forgot that the Queen's husband is still alive and well, and I nearly jumped out of my seat during a scene where the Queen is asleep with James Cromwell (Prince Philip) sleeping next to her. And I forgot that Prince Charles is a total loser, but thankfully the movie did a good job of reminding me.

3) In the movie, Tony Blair lives in a very modest house, with a tiny tiny kitchen and living room with his kids' toys strewn all over the floor. I would have thought the British Prime Minister lived a little more luxuriously. Oh, and Mrs. Tony Blair? Her character is a total BITCH. I can't believe the real Mrs. Blair is too thrilled with that.

4) Helen Mirren is really good. Though I don't know the other nominees for Best Actress, I have to believe she's the front runner.

5) I never really thought about what it means to be the Queen of England, nor what it means to be royalty. Is the Royal Family just a bunch of insanely priveleged English people? Do they still have a role in British government/society? What is that role? And is it that much different than when the monarchy actually had a governmental role as well?

6) I loved the part at the end where the Queen makes a point to Tony Blair about how his popularity could be short-lived. Pretty neat given the current state of affairs.

All in all, I'd say this is a good movie, but not worthy of being Best Picture. More to come...