SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

classicsoncall What I'd like to know is what really, really went on behind the closed doors of Buckingham Castle following the death of Princess Diana. I think the movie probably got a lot of it right. If one followed the history of Diana and her fairy tale wedding to Prince Charles, then you surely were aware of the aftermath when the marriage fell apart and the 'former' Princess took on humanitarian causes and quite inadvertently embarrassed the Royal Family with her post-marital associations. The positive reviewers for this film found a nobility in Queen Elizabeth's (Helen Mirren) attempt to stay above the public fray during the week following Diana's death, but for others, like myself, I can't imagine how she and the rest of The Royals so misjudged the public mood with their tone deaf response. All of this is brought forth successfully by the picture, as well as the ameliorating effect the new Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) had on Elizabeth after a number of head butts against a wall of Royal bashers. Of course, the press took to their usual voyeuristic initiative to paint a grim picture of the Royal Family, eventually leading to some acquiescence on the part of The Queen. In her role, Helen Mirren is quite extraordinary, quite deserving of the 2007 Best Actress recognition, though I question whether the film makers selected a proper title for this film. In many respects, it plays more like 'The Queen's Tantrum'.

solsticetux I must be the last person on earth to see this movie. Saw it on Netflix and decided to jump in. The story is established: Diana dies and the British go into more mourning than they did over the deaths of Winston Churchill or Freddie Mercury. OTOH, the Royal Family is saying "what the eff" is this all about. Very slowly, the film follows the efforts of brand new PM Tony ("call me Tony") Blair as he tries to nudge the royals into showing some public face of grief over the tragedy. Helen Mirren is OK I guess as the queen. Really, who can judge whether her portrayal is accurate. It's a rare Mirren movie where she leaves her clothes on, but I guess that would have been gratuitous nudity. You want to strangle Prince Philip, so that was a good portrayal b/c that is how you were supposed to feel. The Blair character was nauseating, but so was Blair in real life so "check" on that one. The dogs were good. Well, now I can say I saw it.

chaswe-28402 Cunningly put together: real footage spliced with suppositional fictional dialogue and events. Mirren and Cromwell are exceedingly well cast, and convincing, if slightly one-dimensional. It's the way the parts are conceived and written. But Charles, Blair, Cherie, Alistair and Queen Mum, unfortunately come across as little more than cartoon caricatures. This is the problem with the movie as a whole: it seems rather shallow and superficial, as if its subject were really Diana, and not the Queen.Stephen Frears is nevertheless a subtle, multi-layered director. His early production, "The Hit", is a masterful example. This film, like that one, is certainly memorable, and has a trick of making you reflect and think about the implications of the events taking place. There would appear to be a distinct advantage of having a hereditary figurehead, in effect a President, with no political power, who is brought up and trained to behave in a responsible, representative manner. This is not a position suitably occupied by a ditzy celebrity type of bimbo, going all out to court popular publicity. The alternative to the tradition evolved in the UK over the last thousand years is currently transpiring across the pond. An amusing and telling remark was made, to the effect that Blair's charisma might possibly also one day evaporate.

Nuno Cunha I really enjoyed the movie, and usually I'm not a big fan of this kind of movies, given the poor action scenes and the small unroll of the actions. Despite this fact, I believe the movie is great: it represents two very distinct parts of England (the royalty and more conservative way, and the recent and progressive way of dealing with a fainting one), it allow us to see some beautiful landscapes of England (and apparently Scotland); the pressure of the media, as being one of the most powerful tool to both influence the queen's behavior and to transmit current events; Tony Blair dealing with his commitments to the people and dealing with the royalty. That being said, some less positive things about the movie are important of referencing: After reading some comments and reflecting on the movie, I must agree with some comments regarding the fact that the movie does look like a way of justifying the queen's behavior. I don't remember the tragic event of 1997 (I was 4 years old at the time), but after watching this movie I can perfectly accept the queen's behavior. Another thing I didn't understand about the movie was the deer scene. I didn't understand what it was meant to be, and the fact she tries to protect the deer in one scene, but then she congratulated the deer's hunter, which was confusing to me. In conclusion, I think it's a movie worth of seeing.