Florence Foster Jenkins

Meryl Streep plays Florence Foster Jenkins, a playwright who loves music & dreams to be a singer, but with haphazard phrasing, vocal chords that do not phonate freely and subglottal pressure that defies medical science! Although we witness this character from the eyes of Mr. McMoon the pianist played wonderfully by Simon Helberg, it is the persona acted out by Hugh Grant as St. Clair Bayfield that has the most rooting presence of all.

Firstly, casting Meryl Streep & Hugh Grant as a pair of husband and wife does not come off quite persuasive. But, the latter did a great job as a devoted spouse! He makes sure his ill wife's requests are fulfilled and everything goes well, by keeping the mockers and scoffers at bay, ranging from audiences to reviews! You learn a lot about him; his double life, his sincerity, his past as a failed actor and motivations. We could totally get behind him. However, this movie isn't about him. This is why we do not get complete arcs for the supporting characters in his life, such as the girlfriend Kathleen (Rebecca Ferguson). Meryl Streep as the lead is good no doubt, but here we have a protagonist who's full reliant on a side persona, similar to how Frodo and Sam from The Lord of the Rings were. But, the difference is, Frodo isn't the main character so to speak; it's the fellowship & mission to destroy the ring that is. This movie however, is named after the title role, therefore it's natural to expect more active participation by Florence Foster Jenkins which dismissively did not.

There are no particular reasons as to why Mr. McMoon would be asking personal questions to the pair except for our behalf. Florence doing his dishes, Kitty (Brid Brennan) cooking potato salad in a bath tub, pooh-pooh soldiers begin clapping just because of a person's shout and Augustus (David Mills) being able to bring his friends for the event without tickets are ridiculous scenes. There are a lot of wasted cans, such as the party dance & city widescape which explain the film's unneeded lengthy runtime.

For a long drawn movie as such with a small subject, it is impressive to think about the amount of thrills the screenwriters were able to give, mainly the false-success midpoint & climax concerts! It's tense and scary. The screenplay does follow the 3 Act Structure beat-to-beat, resulting in a somewhat organized script, despite having only a handful of bloggable sequences. While this motion picture does carry the message of pursuing dreams relentlessly even if your talent is at stake, it unavoidably shows vainglorious display of egotism.