Marie

Based on true events, Marie follows Sissy Spacek’s title character as she attempts to balance her family life with a challenging new government job – with complications ensuing as Marie slowly discovers extensive corruption within her ranks. It’s an intriguing tale that’s employed to watchable yet far-from-stellar effect by Roger Donaldson, as the filmmaker delivers a matter-of-fact narrative that is, for the most part, devoid of overtly engrossing sequences and interludes – with the movie’s somewhat arms-length atmosphere compounded by an ongoing emphasis on palpably tedious subplots. (There is, for example, an entire storyline revolving around Marie’s ill son that serves only to pad out the already-long running time.) It’s clear, then, that Marie’s mild success is due mostly to the efforts of a uniformly impressive cast, with Spacek’s consistently stirring turn matched by a supporting cast that includes Jeff Daniels, Morgan freeman, and Fred Dalton Thompson (in his first on-screen role, playing himself!) The somewhat repetitive midsection, however, prevents the viewer from ever wholeheartedly connecting to the central character’s exploits, and it’s worth noting, too, that the climactic court case is hardly able to pack the engrossing punch one might’ve anticipated – which ultimately does secure Marie’s place as a fairly middling biopic.

**1/2 out of ****