Diana (2013)
Average Rating: 3.6/10
Reviews Counted: 44
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 40
Naomi Watts tries hard in the title role, but Diana buries her efforts under a shoddy script and clumsy direction.
Average Rating: 4/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 4
Naomi Watts tries hard in the title role, but Diana buries her efforts under a shoddy script and clumsy direction.
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User Ratings: 3,715
Movie Info
DIANA is a compelling portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales during the final two years of her life. The film stars British-born Academy Award (R) nominated actress Naomi Watts (J. EDGAR, FAIR GAME, 21 GRAMS) who assumes the leading role of the eponymous and iconic princess. Naveen Andrews, best known for his roles in THE ENGLISH PATIENT and the hit television series LOST, co-stars as Dr. Hasnat Khan. Fellow Brits Douglas Hodge, Geraldine James, Charles Edwards and Juliet Stevenson round out the
Nov 1, 2013 Limited
Eone Films
- Official Site
Cast
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Naomi Watts
Princess Diana -
Naveen Andrews
Dr. Hasnat Khan -
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Diana Trailer & Photos
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All Critics (44) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (40)
Watts's work is extraordinary, sometimes keying off the same illicit register as Mulholland Drive; she risks being goofy, awkward and bratty.
Top CriticWhy, oh why, oh why? Oh. Why?
Watts nails the two-cans-of-hairspray helmet hair and spidery mascara. But her captain-of-the-lacrosse-team, onwards-and-upwards performance is way off the mark.
Royal with cheese.
This Princess Di biopic swerves past the pitfall of tastelessness only to risk a more perilous roadblock: dullness.
Dismiss it as "A Lifetime Original Movie" if you like, but there's something quietly compelling in this portrait of the depressing isolation of fame
The ever-versatile, ever-daring Naomi Watts certainly looks and sounds the part of Diana, Princess of Wales in Oliver Hirschbiegel's sedate, telemovie-like account of the post-fairy tale phase of the doomed Diana's romantic life.
Hirschbiegel turns to another dead celebrity with this biopic, following the plight of Princess Di in the last 2 years of her life. The biggest problem here isn't the 'daring' behind chronicling her hidden loves, but the sheer awkwardness of it all.
Watts is let down by the Mills & Boon-level script, and I couldn't stop wondering how the originally-cast (and more age-appropriate) Jessica Chastain might've done in the role.
I've seen Nicholas Sparks adaptations that were more credible than this.
At least it's not quite as disastrous a political biopic as The Iron Lady, which is a horrendously awful portrait of an interesting, divisive individual. Dear reader, that is as faint as praise gets.
The focus on Diana becomes almost claustrophobic in its intensity
I inwardly cringed through most of this soppy film
A drippy romance, spending the vast majority of its time in private, two-hander scenes imagining inane dialogue between a dead Princess and a famously reclusive, private surgeon; it only exists because it knows neither of them is going to complain.
As big-screen romances go, this is a far cry from An Affair To Remember. It's an affair you'll probably forget on the bus trip home.
A visually glossy, dramatically limp big-screen puff piece, fashioned with bland professionalism and utterly lacking in texture or insight.
Hirschbiegel shows no signs of a cinematic heart beating in his portrayal of the self-anointed "Queen of Hearts", and rarely goes beyond made-for-television territory.
There's a clever theme to this film that's never allowed to emerge properly, as the script continually slips into romanticised melodrama.
Watts employs a number of iconic head tilts, hairdos and stick-on noses, but fights a losing battle against a film which has neither backbone nor teeth ...
Tony Blair's eulogy had more substance and I don't say that lightly.
Saddled with excruciating, toe-curlingly bad lines, Naomi Watts tries gamely in the lead but bears almost as much resemblance to Barbara Windsor as she does to Diana Windsor.
A shambolic and hugely speculative look at one of her love affairs that has more in common with a bad romcom.
Although [Watts] assiduously imitates Diana's walk and cadences, her martyred-saint sideways and upwards looks, she just never seems mad or posh or even English enough. She's too nice, too normal.
Audience Reviews for Diana
Super Reviewer
"Diana" chronicles the last two years of Princess Diana's life, with particular focus on her relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.
This one, I only saw out of morbid curiosity. And, while I didn't think it quite lived up to its overwhelmingly bad reputation, it's still pretty lame.
The biggest problem with it is just the fact that the love story takes up nearly all the screen time. And on top of that, it doesn't seem the least bit realistic; it feels like a trite piece of Sunday afternoon TV fluff. Even though I know nothing about Princess Diana myself, I can understand the animosity there: it's applying such a feeble story to a topic that, for a lot of people, is a very delicate subject.
Diana's public life is hardly ever shown, and whenever it is, it always comes completely out of nowhere, like the movie suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah, maybe I should talk about that stuff too!" For God's sake, her divorce is completely skipped over and only mentioned in passing!
Not to mention, the stereotyping is just absurd. There's one scene where the Princess is at a jazz club in disguise, and she howls with laughter when the host drops an F-bomb.
So yeah, this movie's pretty ridiculous! But the reason why I give it two stars (out of five) instead of one is because I never found myself truly angry at it; it was all just dull and unremarkable.
My rating: 35%
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Tomatometer Predictions | 4 days ago | 8 |
| These reviews! | 4 days ago | 4 |
| Wonder how the Queen lives with herself. | 22 days ago | 3 |
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