Judy – Review

Judy

Directed by: Rupert Goold

Runtime: 118 minutes

What is it about musical biopics that are just so enjoyable? Like, no matter how hard you try to hate them—hate the acting performances, clichés and on the nose jokes—you just find yourself buoyed enough by a certain kind of infectious energy that you can’t help but watch it again.

I’m naturally suspicious of this feeling, yet I was really excited to watch Judy. The movie follows Judy Garland (Renée Zellweger) as she moves to London to play a series of sold out shows, with the hopes of making enough money to return to her children back in the states. Interspersed with tragic scenes from Garland’s past, Judy allows the audience to watch on as Garland continues with the substance abuse that eventually kills her.

I enjoyed Judy well enough. It definitely met expectations in a number of ways. Zellweger (who is perhaps best known for convincing much of the world’s population that she was actually British in Bridget Jones’s Diary) gave a brilliant performance. Her effervescent portrayal of Garland was nuanced and complex without ever slipping into caricature.

Unfortunately, Zellweger’s shining presence made the performances of other actors rather forgettable. With so much of the focus on Garland and her inner demons, I felt the supporting characters were left with very little emotional depth and their respective actors were left playing various iterations of “kinda disappointed but not surprised”. Of course, any extra time these characters might have had on screen was eating up by regular flashbacks to Judy’s childhood that I sometimes felt halted the storytelling.

The film also relied on cliché, overly emotional and hacky storytelling. At one point, after Judy is unable to continue her rendition of Over The Rainbow, the audience stands one by one and sings it back to her. I’m sure it was supposed to be heartfelt, but it felt like a moment in a Disney Original movie and I instantly disconnected.

That brings me to the real crux of the issue with Judy. In the last year I’ve watched three other music biopics: Bohemian Rhapsody, Rocketman and The Dirt. At various levels of quality, what they all had in common were a sole focus and reliance on the mythology of their main characters (Freddie Mercury, Elton John and Motley Crüe, respectively) above all else. My frustration with these musical biopics and Judy is that no real risks are being taken when delving into this difficult person’s life. Zellweger’s uncanny performance distracts from the lackluster script. Any time we are required to feel emotion there is a well-timed musical number to carry us there. The cinematography, set design and soundtrack were great, but I couldn’t tell you much about it!

As a character study, this film is great. I’d recommend it on that basis alone. However, aside from some fun musical numbers, the film itself is a little boring and unfortunately forgettable. Give it a watch if you don’t mind your emotions being dragged out of you against your will.