This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I love Marilyn and this documentary was really great at showing more of her that I haven't seen before and things I really didn't know about her.The one thing that I hated (which is why I gave it an 8/10) is the awful readings by all these actors. They did a horrible job and all overacted and exaggerated all her diary readings. For me that ruined the movie and it would have been awesome with just a unknown backperson reading as Marilyn.The only ones who I thought did a good job was Lindsey Lohan and Elizabeth Banks, and that's because they just acted naturally.But I just found myself getting confused about if it was them talking or them reading as Marilyn.Overall though, I loved the new insight into Marilyns life and the hurtful ending to her life.

This is an HBO documentary about the life of Marilyn Monroe. Ostensively, 2 new boxes of personal papers has recently been founded in storage. It's not really strictly an organized personal journals. The movie is able to fit those writings with some of her experiences and other people's writings. It tells most of her story from her point of view. She comes off as a hard-working, ambitious, emotionally, and most of all smarter than her persona. I did find that the filmmakers treated her too much with kids gloves sometimes. Her sporadic work schedule is too easily explained away as her acting methodology. The girl had problems. The movie is a little too gentle with her.Overall it's a fascinating look inside an icon. I wish it had more depth especially with her early life. It is interesting to see how driven she was as a young starlet. The other noteworthy aspect is the use of big name actors to read the writing. I'm willing to buy into so many different actresses reading Marilyn's writing. However I found the camera moves too much sometimes in an obvious visual attempt to inject feeling into those readings. It is more distracting than helpful. The movie should just let those actresses read.

In the latest exhumation of tragic movie icon Marilyn Monroe we are given a sober rehashing of the erratic star's career with a cast of ever so sober and somber A listers quoting from her diary and playing the past. Long on pretense with nothing new to reveal it is strictly for Monroe fans who can do without the organ music.Dead half a century Monroe was basically a one note actress with an incredible charisma whose sex appeal packed them in the theatres. It had more to do with her curves than thespian turns however. In Love, Mariylyn Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, Lindsay Lohan et all speak in hush, reverential, almost pained tone while doc director Liz Garbus serves up speculation with today's perspective resulting in the same metaphorical soup out of Monroe and her career that the print and celluloid media have been serving up since her death fifty years back. Same questions same answers.Between the testimonials and the crying out there are some rare archival moments that capture her remarkable appeal towards the end of her career driving George Cukor crazy as she deconstruct's on the set of her last film Something's Gotta Give. A stunning façade of bright eyed beauty and optimism imploding before your eyes, it says more in these brief moments than the entire doc and its heavy handed director posing and framing the patronizing prattle of it's actors delivered with spot on wake like melancholy inflection.

I like, many out there, am a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe and was excited to see this movie... and I was not disappointed! I have seen this 3x and will see it again!! I rarely, if ever, have watched anything more than once but this is so well executed that watching this gives me sense of knowing her just a little bit better from the people that were really in her life each time I watch it. I am also, a bit hyper and not very often will sit through a movie/program without getting up and being drawn to do something else. Would highly recommend this to anyone who loves her or, for that matter, anyone interested in finding out more about her!!!