Viewed in
2013
Formats
HDTV
Premise
Meryl Streep stars as Margaret Thatcher. Give her an Oscar!
Liked
Streep's performance.
Hated
Annoying time jumps and hallucinations.
Thoughts
Classic case of great singular acting, but subpar movie.
Streep was great. I don't know much about Thatcher, but Streep exuded charm, dignity, steely resolve, and unbearable stubbornness. Much befitting the title of the movie.
As the husband, Jim Broadbent was likable in the usual goofy, huggable Broadbent way. Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans should get a kick out of seeing Giles as an aide. The movie also did a good job of portraying the tumultuous time and place during her prime ministry, through set design and music choices.
Too bad the good was overshadowed by unnecessary story-telling decisions. The movie was plagued by constant time jumping around her youth, early career, prominence, and isolated retirement. I was often confused by which timeline I was watching to the point of pure frustration. If that wasn't enough bells and whistles, the film makers decided it was a good idea to play up the dead husband subplot. I got so sick of shuffling back-and-forth in the life of Thatcher that there wasn't any emotional investment into the characters. So watching old Thatcher having visions of dead hubby was utterly nonsensical.
Meryl Streep deserved her oscar for The Iron Lady. But her and her character didn't deserve to be buried underneath superfluous window dressing used to hide the meandering reenactments of Thatcher's biggest political moments.
