Normally I like costume dramas, but I think I have been spoiled by Showtime’s brilliant The Tudors when it comes to Henry VIII and his nasty habit of changing wives whenever the mood strikes him. I will give The Other Boleyn Girl credit for one thing, their Henry VIII was taller than their Anne Boleyn.
The story of Mary Boleyn and Henry VIII, well, sort of. The movie drops off Mary once Henry becomes more involved with Anne. The compression of the story of Henry VIII and his divorce from Catherine and marriage to Anne is a little too much for me. Everyone in the story is a villain and why should we care what happens to them?
The Other Boleyn Girl manages to both drag the boring bits and skip over the interesting ones. This might have something to do with the fact that Mary Boleyn was just one in an endless list of women that Henry VIII bedded. As Mel Brooks so accurately put it-It’s Good To Be The King. So Mary Boleyn’s story has no more place in history than any of the other random women Henry VIII never got around to marrying.
The costumes were good, but after years of going to Ren Fairs they were not really all that amazing. Henry VIII’s wardrobe was way over the top and so wide you had to wonder how he made it through doorways. I kept expecting to see the actors from The Tudors when the varied and sundry characters were mentioned in passing. I’m sure I would have enjoyed this a good deal more if it had used the same cast that Showtime used.
I found it impossible to view the show on its own merits, as it doesn’t seem to have any.
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