The Other Boleyn Girl

This average movie tells the tale of how conniving Anne Boleyn catches her man - but at the cost of her own life and the eventual disgrace of her family - but this time seen through the eyes of her younger sister Mary. The Boleyn family were not of the top rank but Anne and Mary's father had married into the Howard family, and was determined to use his daughters as a means of obtaining the top rank. Mary (despite being recently married) is sent in as a last minute replacement for the over pushy Anne and it is Mary who enters Henry VIII's bed and produces the long desired son - but illegimate. To say this pushes Anne's nose out of joint would be an understatement, and so she manipulates events to gain the ultimate prize - marriage to the monarch. Along the way she ousts Catherine of Aragon (and Mary) in the King's affections, but as we all know it all ends in tears. There was a big opportunity here to view history in a very different way and inject some excitement and suspense in this well known tale - but the film is pedestrian, sloppy in direction, clumsy and confusing historically. Still not a complete turkey - and the two girls are well portrayed by Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson. Rating: 6/10