Former 'Saturday Night Live' cast member holds together slow plot about family scandal
3 out of 5 stars
"Hyde Park on Hudson" is playing at Nickelodeon Theatre through Feb. 28.
“Hyde Park on Hudson” features a delightful lead performance by Bill Murray as Franklin Delano Roosevelt but suffers from slow pacing and cloying cuteness.
The film is based on letters written by Margaret Suckley (Laura Linney), a sixth cousin of FDR who he had an affair with. He spends the entire film at his mother’s house in the countryside shielding himself from the public, partially because his polio and inability to walk would have made him seem weak at a time the country needed a strong leader.
His wife, Eleanor, lives in a separate house nearby, and the film hints at their strained relationship and her true sexuality. This is a time when the public was not aware of every detail of the personal lives of those in power.
The plot centers on the King (Samuel West) and Queen (Olivia Colman) of England coming to visit the president for first time in U.S. history. The king tries to convince Roosevelt to join Britain in fighting World War II. The cultural clashes between these characters produces many awkward moments of humor and embarrassment.
Murray easily has the best film career of any former “Saturday Night Live” cast member. In the last 20 years, he has chosen films wisely and been in some of the best of his career, including “Ed Wood,” “Rushmore” and “Lost in Translation.”
Murray as FDR is inspired casting that works wonderfully. Linney, a talented actress, is wasted in an underwritten role, which is problematic since she is the focus of the film.
Their sexual escapades aren’t particularly interesting or enlightening. In the only scene that earned the film an R rating, Margaret gives FDR a helping hand in his car. The scene is unappealing and unnecessary; the extent of their relationship could have been implied in a more refined way.
The overbearing score threatens to make the lightweight film float away. The music makes the film seem like a trailer for itself. Margaret’s narration is annoying because she describes what is already being shown on screen, and it draws the audience out of the film.
The camera work is also distracting at times. There are numerous shots in which the camera captures something and then shifts focus to something on the other side of the screen. This technique can be successful when used sparingly, but it is done too many times.
Also, there are shots where the camera circles around the characters 360 degrees for no apparent reason. Most of the film is simple and still, but these flourishes pull the audience away.
As is expected in a period film, the production design and costumes are top rate. It is a very colorful film, which somewhat clashes with one of the film’s themes that these powerful people’s real lives are not the same as what the public sees. Then why is the film so glossy and insubstantial?
The film is short at 94 minutes, but it still drags.
Some of the slowness builds the uncomfortable relationship and interactions between the characters, but it settles on being a pleasant trifle that one could watch with their grandmother on a Sunday afternoon.