Feminist subtext aside, the movie is primarily an excuse for ogling some blue-chip actor-flesh.
Comment
02/28/08
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
41
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:135
Fresh:56
Rotten:79
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Though it features some extravagant and entertaining moments, The Other Boleyn Girl feels more like a soap opera than historical drama.
Theatrical Release:07-03-2008
Synopsis: Based on the best selling novel by Philippa Gregory, The Other Boleyn Girl is an engrossing and sensual tale of intrigue, romance, and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in... [More]
Reviews for The Other Boleyn Girl
The film moves in frustrating herks and jerks. What works is the combustible teaming of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, who give the Boleyn hotties a tough core of intelligence and wit.
02/28/08
Lush historical drama is engrossing but mature.
02/28/08
The talented cast is largely wasted.
02/28/08
Given the zing and zip of [screenwriter] Morgan's prior work, it's fair to guess that the film's want of rhythm and sweep is due to Justin Chadwick's pedestrian direction.
02/28/08
Beneath the thundering horse hoofs and happy wedding fiddles is a viper's nest of sexual intrigue that would be at home on Desperate Housewives.
02/28/08
It's a straightforward, unpretentious joy, and one of the most purely enjoyable films I've seen in some time.
02/28/08
Sticklers for historical accuracy are forewarned: This glossy production plays fast and loose with the facts, abbreviating, altering and excising entire character arcs and plot lines.
02/28/08
A classy romantic cocktail distinguished by its tart yet breezy bite.
02/28/08
Even by its own standards, the movie becomes increasingly macabre and ludicrous as Anne's machinations get the better of her, and everyone, including the audience, is left feeling shattered, shaken and vaguely unclean for having participated in all this.
02/28/08
Everyone will wonder why these girls continue to trust a king who constantly betrays them and wears such pimp-tastic fur.
02/28/08
Dialogue focuses only on how characters relate to each other. A game of love, lust, power, manipulation. Nothing more aside from their rather single-minded aims.
02/28/08
The filmmakers deserve credit for being serious-minded, but they might have hinted at the top of the film that all would not be well in the end.
02/28/08
The Other Boleyn Girl works both as an engagingly sordid meditation on protofeminism and contemporized sisterhood set in a time and a place where either/or were grounds for, at the very least, defenestration.
02/28/08
[A] ridiculously delicious soap opera...
02/28/08
It probably shouldn't be the way in which high-school kids learn about Henry VIII and his court, but it's a fun movie.
02/28/08
The umpteenth film incarnation of Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn, The Other Boleyn Girl races through the events at the Tudor court like a triple-time miniseries.
02/28/08
A highly absorbing rendition of an endlessly fascinating tale.
02/28/08
Shares a trait with Henry: It's relentlessly powerful and makes up for its lack of well thought-out plotting with deftly effective execution.
02/28/08
Flamboyantly puts across the idea, Be careful what you wish for. Ambition, power and wealth are not what they are cracked up to be.
02/28/08
Latest News for The Other Boleyn Girl
August 23, 2008:
Iconoclast.com: An all in the dysfunctional family royal romp with incestuous tendencies, this richly textured, dramatically disciplined, erotically laced and emotionally taut creation makes for weirdly kinky historical analysis. 
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June 18, 2008:
An all in the dysfunctional family royal romp with incestuous tendencies, this richly textured, dramatically disciplined, erotically laced and emotionally taut creation makes for weirdly kinky historical analysis, but pretty steamy pre-tabloid melodrama.
More...
June 09, 2008:
RT on DVD: Bosomy Boleyn Girls, Jumper, John Adams
As the latest wave of Obamamania sweeps the country, look forward to HBO's Recount...or peek into the past with HBO's John Adams. Also clear your calendar for high-def Top... More...
June 05, 2008:
Another Boleyn Girl On the Way?
Despite lukewarm reviews and middling box-office receipts, rumor has it that work has begun on a sequel to The Other Boleyn Girl. More...
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