Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply Perfect

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

An elderly Margaret Thatcher talks to the imagined presence of her recently deceased husband as she struggles to come to terms with his death while scenes from her past life, from girlhood to British prime minister, intervene. Without a doubt the best part of 'The Iron Lady' is easily Meryl Streep's amazing and terrific perfomance but unfortunately? Besides that? There isn't anything much to it except her role and her devotion to the film plus the make up was insane but the film and the rest of the casting? Was pretty damn forgettable and below average.

The Iron LadyThe format of the feature is dull, familiar and predictable with a weak structure that collapses before it even emerges in front of the audience and unfortunately that window is quite narrow. The little aspects of it are appreciative like costume design, make-up and fine editing. Abi Morgan's screenplay has an excellent build up from character's perspective which never makes it anywhere and instead floats somewhere between space. Phyllida Lloyd is the real gem whose brilliant execution helps the audience feel connected somewhat. Meryl Streep has been a tremendous actress in her career where she has redefined herself over and over again, but if there is any performance she should be remembered for, it's for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady is a swing and a miss that that may be greater on technical aspects but definitely not on offering concrete material.

There's little room for argument that Meryl Streep deserved the Best Actress for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher, but I couldn't help thinking that the movie itself was a bit of a hit piece on the conservative British Prime Minister. Instead of examining Thatcher's tenure as PM in detail, the story had more to do with her slide into dementia following the death of husband Denis (Jim Broadbent). If that was to be the focus of the movie, why call it "The Iron Lady"? The real Iron Lady dealt with the United Kingdom's fiscal irresponsibility and stood firm against colleagues and opponents alike during the Falklands crisis. She brought Britain's role in the world back to some semblance of authority while the rest of Europe preferred to (and still does) surrender sovereignty to a monolithic entity with little regard for the common man who votes their politicians into power. Thatcher's commitment to self reliance, independence and hard work is generally alluded to but never given the kind of recognition that would inspire a viewer to follow in her footsteps. Regarding the film makers' choice of Streep in the title role is akin to selecting Jane Fonda for the role of Nancy Reagan in Lee Daniels' "The Butler", that is to say, something of a poke in the eye toward Conservatives, considering Streep's own political views. What was kind of ironic in retrospect was something Lady Thatcher stated while running for the position of Prime Minister, as it relates to the recent election of our own current President. She said "It's time to put the 'Great' back into Great Britain". It sounded like something old that's become new again.

While I cannot fault at all the performance given by Meryl Streep as Thatcher, this film is not the tribute that the great lady (whatever your political view) deserved.It's ploddy, it's weakly scripted in places, and I was disappointed it took the direction of showing Thatcher as being fail and looking back, which is an overused device.Much like Helen Mirren in 'The Queen' it is Streep's performance that carried the film from start to finish, though Jim Broadbent does well as her husband.A decent film that could and should've been better.