Mini-Review: Iron Lady

The post below this one reminds me that I'm now allowed (I think) to mention that about a month ago I attended an advance screening of The Iron Lady. Despite my long-running morbid fascination with the Thatcher regime, I found the film surprisingly dull. Far too much time is devoted to Thatcher's battle with Alzheimer's as she hallucinates conversations and encounters with her long-dead husband.

The other half of the film breezes through her early life as the daughter of working-class shopkeeper and then her speedy rise to prime minister. Thatcher's devastating policies and their effects on British culture are largely depicted with news clips from the day, although it was chilling to realize how precisely her 1980s rhetoric dovetails with modern-day Tea Party philosophies. Overall I'll give The Iron Lady a piddling two stars, one of which is just for Streep's impersonation.