Florence Foster Jenkins

Ever since I saw "The Queen", I haven't forgotten the name of director Stephen Frears. When I heard about his latest film, "Florence Foster Jenkins", I wanted to see it but I should have understood beforehand that it was a "dramedy". The movie was funny but I think die-hard Meryl Streep fans will find it a lot more humorous than I did. The movie has story problems at the start but the film got better towards the end, a quality that is expected from any film.

I think what was off-putting for me personally about the whole film is that it is strange in order to reflect the person who inspired the movie. The real Florence Foster Jenkins was ostentatious and hard to take completely serious. History is divided as to whether she was in on the joke. The fact that Foster Jenkins reluctantly agreed to perform at Carnegie in real life, a venue where she could not regulate who attended, seems to suggest to me that she was aware of her true level of talent. The film stays true to the real life story such as how Florence gets good reviews in the papers. The movie also portrays her personality accurately but Bayfield is portrayed as the one who controls her exposure instead of Foster Jenkins herself. She did suffer a heart attack only days after her performance at Carnegie Hall but the film takes dramatic license with this moment. Still, when Florence reads the Post, it is a scene that is hard to watch emotionally. The biggest flaw was that the opening of the movie was confusing. It was hard to keep straight all the circumstances of the plot at first. Thankfully, the character of Mr. McMoon becomes our voice in the movie in that he asks the questions we are all asking. One question I never got answered was if Bayfield really was married to Florence or did she think he was when really he is married to Kathleen. Then I found out that history doesn't even know the answer so the film is accurate in this regard as well. Even though others found the movie more humorous than I did, I did get a kick out of Florence's visit to Bayfield's house after the party as well as the potato salad gag.

Simon Helberg gives the best performance in this movie but you're probably wondering how I can say that when he plays opposite of the iconic Meryl Streep. In my defense, I am just not that big of a fan of Streep. I do not doubt her talent (pun not intended). In fact, I can't think of any other actress who could accurate portray Foster Jenkins and her work on this movie gave Streep her 20th Oscar nomination. She now holds the record for the most acting Oscar nominations ("Florence Foster Jenkins" was also nominated for its costume design by the way). For me, I could relate more to McMoon and I am sure that is the case with most people in the audience. Helberg's reactions to the events on screen are priceless. His performance and costume fooled me to the point that I didn't recognize him as one of the actors on "The Big Bang Theory". He did seem familiar while watching "Florence Foster Jenkins" but without his trademark hairstyle from the TV show, he slips perfectly into his role. This is a strange story and the movie acknowledges this fact. Frears did a good job in creating this movie as did everyone involved but I should have known what kind of movie I was going into to. One line in this movie is an actual quote from Foster Jenkins: "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing." I felt that was very fitting to include in the script because the quote itself is witty and touching, just like the film itself.

3.5 Stars