The Favourite

Now I’m not a movie snob, I can admit when a movie comes out with stellar reviews and it just doesn’t do it for me. The Favourite is a pretty good example of this. This was a movie that I was probably going to skip until the Golden Globes wins and Oscars hype started. I’m not a huge fan of period pieces and, excluding Paddington, I don’t exactly enjoy British movies. Quick shoutout to Paddington 2 for possibly being my favorite movie of 2018...seriously. But with all that being said, I decided to give The Favourite a fair shot.

Olivia Coleman (Thomas & Friends), Rachel Weisz (The Mummy), and Emma Stone (La La Land) all give great performances, as evidenced by their best actress and best supporting actress nominations. The story, however, is the part that just doesn’t connect with me. The Favourite is about Queen Anne and her friendship/mentorship/love affair with two other women. The complicated relationship with both women leads to a power struggle and fight for the Queen’s affection. Amazing acting performances aside, I just couldn’t get myself to care about this storyline. I by no means hated this movie, and can certainly appreciate the way it was shot and why it’s being talked up so much. The Favourite was surprisingly funny and did a great job of giving a political drama some lightheartedness. I can’t help but feel that maybe I’m not the target audience here and that’s why i couldn’t connect with the plot. Maybe that’s it, or maybe I’m just a big dumb idiot who loves movies about adorable talking bears, the jury is still out.

Rating - 79

Mike