MOVIE REVIEW - Woman In Gold

Here comes a nice piece of history, told in this true story of an important event.  It's simply a shame this is not a better movie.

Woman In Gold stars the wonderful Helen Mirren who can make any movie better.  It's a good thing they got her for this role. She is perfect for it and she delivers, as where the rest of this movie does not.  And quite frankly it should have been much better.

Mirren stars as Maria. She lived in Los Angeles in the 1990's as she was forced to flee Austria in the early stages of WWII when the Nazi's took over.  Maria is Jewish, and had no choice but to leave and never return.  As she remembers her life, she also remembers an amazing portrait painted of her aunt before the war entitled Woman In Gold.  The Nazi's took everything of course including this amazing painting.  After the war, the painting was kept by the Austrian government and became known as the Mona Lisa of Austria. Problem is, Maria wants it back as it really belongs to her family.

She hires Randy (Ryan Reynolds), who is a young lawyer and a son of a family friend. He is hired to try to try to get the painting back to it's rightful place.  He is very green, and seems to be a bit over his head and in fact he is. But they trudge on and dodge very roadblock the Austrians throw at them to a final decision of the paintings fate. Oh by the way, the painting is worth over one hundred million dollars.

This is a true story that deals with the issue of reuniting thousands of these paintings with their owners. Hers is just an example. This movie will have limited appeal clearly with subject matter, but that's not the main offender here. This movie just is not written very well, especially the part of Maria. Mirren does a lot with a little, as the writer chose to write her dialogue as a series of sound bites and not real speech.

This also drags a bit and is not near as compelling as it could have been.  There is also a tough to explain disconnect at times.  There are moments that this movie becomes very self involved, and chooses to leave us behind. Almost like they are amusing themselves.  And it's a shame, this story deserves a better overall movie.

Woman In Gold. Limited appeal, and mediocre at best.