Just in time for its thoroughly panned Venice debut, the first footage has debuted for Madonna‘s historical romance W.E. So far, David Gritten of The Telegraph is the only reviewer I’ve come across who has had nice things to say about the film. “W.E. is rather better than expected,” he writes. “It’s bold, confident and not without amusing moments.” Gritten is quick to qualify his praise, however, as he next writes, “Still, it’s undeniably a strange concoction.”
Among the list of reviewers who can’t say enough about the film’s downfalls are In Contention‘s Guy Lodge (“irredeemably silly, self-admiring ode to life, love and all the fabulous bed linens in between”), Variety‘s Leslie Felperin (“If ‘W.E.’ were prose, it would be italicized and in bold caps, so banally does it juxtapose events in Wally’s and Wallis’ lives”), The Playlist‘s Oliver Lyttelton (“some of [the film’s] problems could have been ironed out by the right director, but it seems that Madonna has, if anything, gotten worse since ‘Filth and Wisdom'”), The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks (“What an extraordinarily silly, preening, fatally mishandled film this is”), and THR‘s Todd McCarthy (“‘W.E.’ is as easy on the eyes and ears as it is embalmed from any dramatic point of view”).
Suffice it so say that this one doesn’t look like it’ll be an Oscar player for The Weinstein Company. But no worries: They still have The Artist — one of the current juggernauts — and a couple of other films that could squeeze their way into the race. Based on the reception, it seems as if the best way to deal with W.E. is to just forget it, but if you’re still on the fence, take a look at the clip below.
Do you still have any interest in seeing W.E.? What did you think of the clips?