MOVIE REVIEW: JUDY

Now, get ready for something different for GlickArts. A movie review.

Located at your local multi-plex is a film that has received a lot of buzz, “Judy”.  Staring Renee Zellweger, “Judy” shines a spotlight on the last difficult months of the life of singer Judy Garland.

Many people regard Garland as one of the greatest entertainers of the 20^th century. The world first noticed her as a wide-eyed teenager singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in the 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz”.

Her career had lots of ups and downs through the years, but her great vocal talent was never in question.  She died of an accidental drug overdose in 1969, which makes us wonder why this movie was made at a time when many people were not even alive back then.

The movie has received mixed reviews and I, for one, was greatly disappointed. 

There have been several bio-pics (or pseudo bio-pics) lately – “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Queen), “Rocketman” (Elton John) and “A Star is Born” (that’s the pseudo one).

They all follow a familiar pattern. Act 1: The brilliant youngster is young and naïve but just needs a break.  Act 2: Someone hears the struggling artist and makes them a star.  We as an audience revel in the performances, the fame and the wealth. Act 3: The star flies out of the stratosphere, gets involved in dangerous people and bad drugs and either dies or is redeemed and ends up clean and sober.

This model seems to work in most cases.  In the Judy film, however, the producers only give us the Act 3 of the story, her fall from grace.  Garland’s dramatic life of starring with Mickey Rooney in many movies, marrying several famous movie moguls, and developing a concert stage career that crowned her the diva of stages throughout the world.  Her voice was electrifying, and her stage presence stunning. 

But all the good stuff about Judy’s success was left out. The beginning of the movie shows us Judy with her two young children, locked out of their hotel room because she hadn’t paid the bill for months.  She is out on the street, addled by pills, and looking for a place to sleep. Depressing, to say the least.

Zellweger did a superb job of playing Judy, but her voice (she did her own singing) never convinced me that it was Judy.  The production value and the acting in general was gripping and realistic.

The bulk of the story takes place in London when Judy is given a five-week contract at a high-class night club.  She didn’t want to take the gig but was flat broke.

The rest of the movie was watching the once-great star wobble onto the stage, high from drugs and drink, not show up at all, and get involved with a man who would become her fifth husband. She dies weeks after the London performances.

Yes, there were some memorable moments that saved the day. Judy’s sweet relationship with a gay couple who adored her, the final stage show in London and some wonderful scenes of her as a youngster filming “The Wizard of Oz” as MGM fed her handfuls of pills.

Yes, Judy Garland was a broken and sad woman and everything in the movie was accurate.  But there was a lot more to the star’s life and career and it was sad to not be able to see the what made Judy an entertainment icon, as well what caused her to crash.