I love this movie so much

Sick Product of a Sick System

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Just watched this with my mom on Netflix disc. It was quite a fascinating document of a woman named Daisy (Laura Linney) and her relationship with her fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray). Besides that, there's also a visit from England's King George VI and his wife Elizabeth to deal with. I'll stop there and just say that this was quite a nice drama with some good humorous moments-mainly involving the king and queen and their concerns about the picnic they have to attend especially about eating American hot dogs. Besides Murray and Linney and the people who portrayed the royal couple, I also liked Olivia Williams as Eleanor Roosevelt. So on that note, I recommend Hyde Park on Hudson.

You have to get past two things in this movie. First, although the historians say that the movie took too much dramatic license, the intimacies of FDR's relationship with his distant cousin Daisy Suckely don't really matter. Second, the movie is predominantly about FDR's relationship with the women closest to him -- his highly political wife, Eleanor, his loyal, adoring secretary, Missy LeHand, his adoring and domineering mother, and the safe, quiet, likewise adoring Daisy. Bill Murray, as FDR, floats through a sea of estrogen, sometimes doing an effortless backstroke, sometimes barely keeping his head above the storm waves. Except for two tete a tete meetings with the young King George VI, there is not one scene in which the President of the United States is shown saying anything of substance to another man. That's not surprising, because the principal source for the story is the letters and journal that Daisy kept secret until after her death at age 99. With one major exception, it's all her point of view.The reason to watch is Bill Murray's marvelous FDR. He looks nothing like the man, of course, but he perfectly captures the FDR manner of insouciance, amiability and insincerity masking unshakable determination. Its a technical performance on a level with Cate Blanchett's impersonation of Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator.The high point is the two private meetings between FDR and George VI, which Daisy could have known of only at second hand from FDR, if at all. The young king is shown as not only uncertain of himself but somewhat overwhelmed by his queen, who is herself insecure but with a much stronger will. The tone, set by Murray's FDR, is of the two men finally getting some peace and quiet away from female demands and importunities. He uses his mobility, or rather his lack of it, to make a point about will and determination to a younger man suffering from his own disability. I know this is historical fiction, but if this isn't the way it was, it's nice to think so.

If you like dreamy movies with atmosphere, this film is a sheer delight. The President emerges as a warm, immensely human persona, who urges his aids to spy on his somewhat controlling and volatile mother. The royal visit, though probably historically inaccurate, is displayed with tongue in cheek humor and excellent performances.Laura Linney is understated and poignant, with a hint of bittersweet.I was also surprised to find a Cherokee Dance at the royal picnic--who could ask for more in a movie?The British filming location adds a wistful and lovely atmosphere, intensifying the romantic and complex frolic of events.

Depicting the long-term relationship between FDR (Bill Murray) and his distant cousin Daisy (Laura Linney), HYDE PARK ON HUDSON is an excellent character-study of a US President making the best of his disability yet remaining true to his nature. A serial philanderer yet sincere friend, he is someone whom people have to get to know; he will not change. Daisy understands this through painful experience, forming a friendship that lasted throughout Roosevelt's lifetime. Richard Nelson's screenplay also focuses on the encounter between FDR and King George VI (Samuel West); like the President, the King suffers from a disability - his stammer - but through an encounter with FDR he learns to come to terms with it, forming the basis for a lasting friendship that was sustained on a personal as well as a national level. Sadly HYDE PARK ON HUDSON is let down by its determination to observe the hackneyed conventions of the period drama; there are too many spurious shots of sun-drenched landscapes, or period cars drawing up and departing from FDR's stately home. Some of the supporting performances are over-drawn: Olivia Colman's Queen Elizabeth comes across as a xenophobic prude, unable (or perhaps unwilling) to contemplate alternative lifestyles. Nonetheless the film is worth watching, if only for Bill Murray's amazing yet touching recreation of FDR.