The Other Boleyn Girl

From the desk of The Movie Snob

The Other Boleyn Girl (B). I never read the novel, and I don't know the real historical details of the story, so I may have liked this film the better for it. The failure of King Henry VIII (Eric Bana, Troy) to produce a male heir is about to rock England, and when the upper-middle-class Boleyns get the inside scoop that Henry is ready to throw over Catherine of Aragon, weak-willed Sir Thomas Boleyn does not hesitate to throw his daughters at the monarch. Conniving Anne (Natalie Portman, Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace) tries first and fails to impress, but her sweet sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson, Eight Legged Freaks) succeeds -- for a time. Of course, history demands that Anne win out in the end, and once she elbows Mary aside events move so fast that there's not even time to mention poor St. Thomas More. Critical reaction has been mixed at best, but I enjoyed it as a good, sudsy Saturday afternoon flick.