Agatha

Directed by Michael Apted, Agatha follows Vanessa Redgrave’s Agatha Christie as she walks away from her life and spends over a week living under an assumed name – with the narrative also detailing an American reporter’s (Dustin Hoffman’s Wally Stanton) efforts at uncovering the truth. It’s potentially compelling subject matter that is, for the most part, employed to dry and hopelessly dull effect by Apted, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Kathleen Tynan and Arthur Hopcraft, delivers an often unreasonably deliberate endeavor that contains few, if any, attributes designed to capture and sustain the viewer’s interest – with the lackluster atmosphere compounded by a repetitive midsection that slowly-but-surely wears out its welcome. And while it boasts impressive production design and is undeniably quite well acted, Agatha, which builds towards a thriller-like third act that’s hardly as impactful as Apted has intended (ie the viewer has long-since checked out of the proceedings), ultimately can’t help but cement its place as an arms-length endeavor that feels like it could (and should) be so much better.

*1/2 out of ****