The Special Relationship
Cinema Nova, 23/08/2010
Status: Behind by 6 (and a half) films
It’s funny - the running time was short, the events were fascinating, the script tight and the performances solid, but I still felt like The Special Relationship dragged somwhat. Looking back, I can’t really account for it.
MICHAEL SHEEN (The Queen, Twighlight) plays Tony Blair not so much as an impersonator, but just as a very good actor - I believed he was Blair because he told me so. Similarly, HOPE DAVIS (American Splendor) and HELEN McCRORY (The Queen, Harry Potters) as Hillary and Cherie respectively have the right hair, clothes and carriage to evoke their characters and then it’s all about their acting chops. DENNIS QUAID’s Bill Clinton, however, treads much closer to mimicry and, though sometimes effective, I found it harder to forget that I was watching an actor.
The film worked on a bunch of levels for me - I liked the personal story of two men and the choices/mistakes they made; I liked the bigger-picture ideas and politics; and I liked the comparative study between the conditions of British Prime Minister-ship and US Presidentiality (totally a word, look it up). I did like it - I did - it just seemed to drag somewhat is all.
