It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This film is nothing special at all. Its very well cast, especially Williams, Dench and Brannagh as well as the great supporting cast. However, there is very little plot and the story is predictable in every way. Its just a very average and forgettable film.

The story of Marylin Monroe was a big one to live up to, and I just don't feel that this film really matched it.I think the biggest issue for me was the actress. Obviously, it is nigh on impossible to find a person to be exactly like another, but this lady was just so empty I didn't feel anything about Marilyn through her, only through the story and others actors. Perhaps that was the idea, it being Colin's view of her but, still. Bla. The other actors were wonderful though, and made it enjoyable enough to watch, especially with the Eddie eye-candy. All in all I don't think I would recommend it or watch it again sadly.

Despite a fact-based story that strains credibility, an insightful look at the cinematic phenomena that was Marilyn Monroe makes the 2011 docudrama My Week with Marilyn worth watching.This film centers on an aspiring English show biz hopeful named Colin Clark who has been hired to be the Third Assistant Director to Sir Laurence Olivier during production of the film The Prince and the Showgirl and how Colin inexplicably becomes the only person that Marilyn trusts on the set of the film, and that includes her acting coach Paula Strasberg, who was a permanent fixture in Marilyn's life during this period.Director Simon Curtis has mounted an expensive, fact-based drama that so accurately brings to the screen the mania behind Marilyn and though it provides some mixed messages regarding the woman vs the myth, the messages are convincingly projected here. We always think that there's nothing new to learn about Marilyn at this point and this film doesn't really provide any new insight into the sex symbol, except for the possible fact that like a lot Marilyn's handlers, Marilyn was also aware that Marilyn Monroe was a "product" and that she was somebody else...someone else who whose deep-rooted sadness stemmed from the lack of strong parenting and that the feeling no one really loved her, including current spouse Arthur Miller.As expected with any film about Marilyn, the film documents the production schedule delays due to Marilyn's chronic lateness, the constant interference from Paula Strasberg, the inability to remember very simple lines, and best of all, Olivier's conflicted feelings about his leading lady...we see Olivier's aggravation with the actress' work ethic combined with his fascination with the woman who makes him feel young again and has wife Vivien Leigh more than concerned. I love the scene of Olivier sitting alone in a screening room being captivated by dailies of Marilyn. What I did find hard to believe here is that a movie star like Marilyn Monroe would become so completely enamored of a Third Assistant Director that she would forsake everyone else around her, including Olivier, Paula, and Arthur Miller.The film is well-cast with a nicely understated performance from Eddie Redmayne as Colin Clark, a young man who falls under the spell of Marilyn without even realizing it is happening. Kenneth Branaugh is charismatic as Laurence Olivier and mention should also be made of Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh and a lovely turn from Dame Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndyke, a co-star of The Prince and the Showgirl, who becomes Marilyn's onset Savior, but what this film has above everything else is a luminous, Oscar-nominated performance by Michelle Williams as Marilyn, a richly complex performance that nails Marilyn's vulnerability, insecurity, and best of all, her intelligence.The film boasts some impressive production values, including first rate cinematography and a lush music score and helps to make this film lovely to look at...along with the incredible Michelle Williams.

Colin, the apparent chum and tranquilizing love-buddy of Marilyn, fell for what appeared, and still appears as a matter of fact, to be the Greek goddess. It might have been a week for him, and an infinite clocks of wounds, but for the viewers of "My Week with Marilyn" it's only a bloody nightmare. Before going further, let's keep it clear that I loved the movie, the presentation is appreciable, and Eddie Redmayne was superb with his innocent looks and freckles. Kenneth Branagh was good too, only that there was nothing remarkably extraordinary in his act. Michelle Williams, while did justice to the task-at-hand, failed miserably at the hands of structural-mediocrity. The following might be offensive, but I'm not judging by her looks, I'm only stating plain, and hardcore facts that make her inauspicious for the role.Marilyn Monroe has no look-alike, and although some of modern-day actresses might imitate her style effectively, they may never do it the way she did—innately charming, and unflinchingly pound-making, if that's a word. Michelle Williams, while being awesomely good at acting, looks like a whore (prostitute for mild-readers). She's awfully broad-faced for Marilyn, has vacuum-cleaner lips, and is not pretty at all. Again, I have no issues with her acting, I never have, but c'mon, have some respect for one of the brilliant, and surely the most beautiful actress Hollywood has ever had to see. If you wanted a bloody Oscar nomination, you could have gone with Emilia Clarke (perfectly beautiful, knows how to act, has the mildly-chubby look for Marilyn, and most of all—not a whore (again, prostitute for mild-readers); just had to get rid of her British accent). Or, you could have gone with Carey Mulligan, who again, is far better than "Mr. Williams". Or it could have been Margot Robbie, Kate Hudson or Crystal Reed. Or you should have made the goddamn movie a decade earlier and had Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts do the role! Everything was possible. You see, when it's about Marilyn Monroe, it's not only about acting. You could bring a real brothel-worker to ditto her acts, but that's the whole point, you don't have to just copy-paste them down, you gotta have the proper "diva", or it will just like a cheap and perverted, and night-club thingy. Why did you spoil such a beautiful theme, and such a brilliant imagery? I hate you for that.I agree that Michelle probably is only actress with plausible similarity in countenance, like a quarter of one-percent, compared with my suggestions (quarter of a quarter of one-percent). But audience would have liked anyone with half the beauty as Marilyn on board. They know no one can have her looks. Everybody's always reasonable, except those jerks behind the stages.P.S I loved Michelle in other movies—Brokeback Mountain, Blue Valentine, and several others.