Movie Reaction: Judy

Formula: A Star Is Born / Sunset Blvd.

There needs to be a name for a movie like Judy. That movie is part of a trend over the last few years with films like Stan & Ollie and Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool. It's a new kind of biopic*. Rather than attempting to cover an entire life or document a high point in a career, this kind of movie follows a fading star in his/her/their last days in the spotlight, if not in the realm of the living. They are movies about what it's like when everyone stops caring even though you still want to put on a show. It's probably a coincidence that all the examples I chose involved going to the U.K. too. Maybe I'll call them "After Hollywood" movies, or "Fading star" biopics. Yeah, I like the sound of that.

*I know it's not a new idea. Sunset Blvd. is the same thing only with a fictional character. It sure does feel like in a post-Walk Hard world, this is the strategy filmmakers have taken to the most though.

Judy is exactly what you expect from a fading star biopic. It starts late in Judy Garland's life. Years of building a reputation as being difficult, thanks mostly to her alcohol and drug addictions, have left her uninsurable and unemployable. She can barely take care of her children or escape from her mounting debts, so she takes a lucrative job at a theater in London, where her reputation is still quite high. Eventually she sabotages that sweet gig. And, that's pretty much the movie.

Fading star biopics aren't plot-heavy. They are more about a central performance or two. So, the thrill of Judy is seeing Renee Zellweger inhabit Judy Garland's tics and showmanship. She's a complete mess normally until the moment she gets on stage where she transforms into the star that we all think of. Judy is at its best when Zellweger starts belting out Garland's famous hits. Adding to it is the meta-narrative of Zellweger's own attempt at a comeback. She was the Academy golden child in the early 2000s, then through a mix of bad career decisions and some pretty gendered unfair treatment by the public, she mostly disappeared for a decade. Judy represents her big comeback, and it could very well earn her an Oscar nomination. She's very good in the movie*.

*I should note that I am no Judy Garland expert, so I can't comment on how well she gets the details down. Zellweger's Garland is an authentic character, even if it isn't a perfect mimic.

It's a shame that there isn't much to the movie other than Zellweger's performance. None of the other performances really pop. Don't get me wrong, in a couple years Jessie Buckley could be a big name, and her being in Judy could become a fun factoid. But, she's not giving a breakout performance here. No one is bad either. They're just all functional.

On a personal note, this might be an all-time great "whisper movie". My theater was full of people whispering factoids about Garland to each other: people telling each other what that song was from, what real person that actor was portraying, or some tragic fact about Garland. The mix of demographic and topic meant people couldn't help themselves. So, I guess that means it's a fun movie for all you amateur movie historians to prove how much you know (or that you also listen to You Must Remember This). I just wish everyone in my theater was better at modulating the volume of their whispers. I suppose they were battling a lot of hearing aids.

Cheap shots at older audience members aside, Judy is a perfectly serviceable movie. It's a star vehicle for Renee Zellweger and little else. I would've preferred something with a little more to say, although that didn't stop the end from getting me a little teary-eyed. A 90 minutes version of the movie would've been appreciated (There wasn't enough story for nearly 2 hours). Renee Zellweger is good enough to justify the movie.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend