The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) User Reviews

My friends and I did enjoy the movie, even though it was a bit like a sixteenth-century soap-opera. My best friend did point out many differences between the book and the movie, but obviously there will always be differences and the books will always be better. The acting was nice; I think everyone fit their character well. The screenplay kind of sucked, though, which kind of killed the movie. Still, it wasn't horrible; I liked it. You get to watch Jim Sturgess and Eric Bana for two hours :D I would suggest renting it from Blockbuster when it is released rather than going to the theaters.

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

I read the book and really enjoyed it...it is an interesting historical fiction and a good read. I just saw the movie today and though like most movies based on books it was not 100% the same as the book, I still really liked it. I am not surprised they cut out some of the details since the story included many different romances for both girls that would never have fit in a 2 hour movie but I do think there was enough detail to build the characters and the story. If you like historical fiction I recommend both the movie and the book but if you are going to be judging for accuracy you will most likely be disappointed since it is definitely fictional.

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

i expected to see a good movie after i heard how good the book was, the movie was very disappointing and just plain bad. the dialogue sucked, the story line wasnt developed well, i felt the movie tried too hard because there was too much happening at the same time and things quickly changed and kept getting worse. but i guess watching eric bana for 2 hours was worth it ;-) other than that the movie really sucked

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

Historically inaccurate, and cinematically inadequate, the film spends too much time with the panoply of Tudor England which does not further the character development, or establish the tension between the characters. Eric Bana was not the debauched Henry, old and smelly. Natalie Portman was the perfect choice to play Anne and Scarlet Johannson was the perfect choice to play Mary, but the director could not transcend the extremely bad screenplay to showcase their talents. The book is great and I wonder that Philippa Gregory would allow such a travesty to be visited upon her book. Ms. Gregory is a superlative wordsmith, an excellent story teller.

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

A quick glimpse at the Tudor family line on Wikipedia will yield hundreds of years of made-for-movie material, but none quite as compelling as the story of Anne Boleyn. Pair a classic story with airy language, beautiful sets and costumes, and some A-list names and you have Oscar magic in the making. Right? Well, not always. We've seen it before and we're not necessarily impressed with royalty anymore. The Other Boleyn Girl offers new perspectives and dramatic angles on the saga of wives that is Henry VIII's legacy, but nearly drowns in melodrama.The Other Boleyn Girl could be so much more. As a hyper-dramatic costume flick, it does stand out. There's more than meets your eye, and the costarring performances are not to be missed. There's a lot of material to cover in this story, but a simplified script would have helped keep this film farther away from too much drama. Especially with a true story as wild as this, there's not a lot that needs to be changed or added to grip the viewer. Any embellishments verge on destroying believability and creating situations we can't relate to.

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

Very VERY BAD. Read the book and wait to netflicks this film. I think the only good actor was Katherine of Aragon. Mary (Scarlett Johanson) always looked like she was about to cry. Horrible performances. Hollywood should really stop trying to cast Famous people and rather focus on casting talented people. This was really frustrating to watch. It moved way to fast and had a horrible editing job. It was like watching a soap.

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

this movie sets a very good example of what not to do if you are married. i hated the movie, it was slow it was an entire film about cheating and wrong doing by men, women, fathers and extended family there was nothing good about this movie.

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

"The Other Boleyn Girl" is a historical drama about a notorious English king's divorce and relationships with two sisters. Be warned form the outset that his film is more drama than historical. Read my full review at johnhuntspace.com/otherboleyn.html

05/22/2008, 9:34 am

Has anyone read the book? The book was amazing! But this movie was like a bad book report! I was really looking forward to seeing this movie and then was really disappointed! There are so many really important parts that the movie just left out! I was really really disappointed! The people that actually liked this book should go read the book and see what its actually supposed to be like! URG.... what a waste of time!

05/22/2008, 9:34 am