My Week With Marilyn

Everyone keeps talking about how Michelle Williams is magnificent as Marilyn Monroe. And, she is. However, I was quite shocked to sit through the whole movie before realizing Kenneth Branagh was playing Laurence Olivier (let's call it a chameleon-like performance by Branagh, not Willie being totally clueless and forgetting he saw Branagh's name in the opening credits).

Based on two books by the guy we are about to mention to the right, Eddie Redmayne plays Colin Clark - a well-to-do young man who wants to get into the movie making business. Through some connections and an extremely persistent attitude, Colin finds himself working as a production assistant on a new Laurence Olivier movie, The Prince and The Showgirl.

While working with Olivier is quite exciting, Clark, and everyone else associated with the picture, is ecstatic to be working with Olivier's co-star, Marilyn Monroe (Williams). Of course, backstage drama ensues as Monroe is a fragile, insecure actress trying to live up to the demands and filmmaking style of her co-star, while also being mobbed by adoring fans and paparazzi wherever she goes. Marilyn's only refuge is the country estate where she is staying, and some fun, maybe romantic, moments she spends with Colin.

Will Colin's heart be broken?

Can Marilyn get it together to finish the movie?

My Week With Marilyn will be best known for Williams' portrayal of Monroe than for the tale itself. As a movie, it feels like director Simon Curtis and writer Adrian Hodges (along with Colin Clark contributing to the script) have broken the movie into two parts that don't quite go together.

The first part of the movie is all about the mystique and mystery of Monroe as we see her making her way into the country to great fanfare, as well as Clark's funny, if not familiar, attempts to land the job.

Then, almost too late for what we expect, Curtis and Hodges put Clark and Monroe together for a whimsical, but somewhat pointless part of the movie. We have spent the first half of My Week With Marilyn watching everyone getting drawn into Monroe's orbit, but it feels like Colin and Marilyn only spend a few days together, not an entire week and nothing all that stunning or revealing.

Yet, you can't keep your eyes off Williams. It is very easy to look silly doing a Marilyn Monroe impression, but she captures the spirit of Monroe and makes her irresistible. Williams is able to show so many aspects and dimensions of the legend that you can't help but get drawn into that orbit just like the characters on the screen. She's sad, happy, troubled, challenged, scared, determined, and downright sexy. While the legend might be a mess, Williams also shows Monroe had a love of life that is infectious, when she was having a good day.

Branagh does the movie a great service by playing a second banana with aplomb, showing us Olivier's own struggles to do the same, and giving him a bit of a lecherous side to keep the man interesting, while Toby Jones and Judi Dench are fantastic in smaller roles because they always are fantastic.

My Week With Marilyn showcases great acting, even if the storytelling is lacking.

My Week With Marilyn is rated R for some language