Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.1|5.0
Starsììì
The Great Gilly Hopkins
drops its audience into the life of a belligerent and difficult to deal with
teen-ager without proper back-story preparation and without sufficient introduction
to main characters. While the new foster mother seems to be a wanna-be-ally,
the script is not well enough written to really make us see her as a helping
hand. It is difficult to reconcile the emergence of a well-to-do grandmother with
the foster child. It seems an averagely placed grandmother would have
encouraged a deeper sense of realism instead of promoting the ‘I wish’ or ‘Beyond
happily ever after dream’ as a realistic resolution for the main character’s
future life. While the movie’s script tries to emphasize love, love is hard to
pull out of this movie. The type of acting responsible for providing realism in
a film is completely lacking despite some outstanding casting choices such as
Glenn Close, Bill Cobbs, and Kathy Bates. Part of the failure is: Glenn Close
is far too sophisticated to be acting in this film while Kathy Bates is at her
usual average. The charismatic Bill Cobbs can play/fit into many film genres,
both high budget and low budget, and do quite a nice job due to his acting flexibility
and basic charisma. Overall? The film doesn’t work at any level and performs
under a random quilting of incongruities.
Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia
Storyline
Gilly
Hopkins (Sophie Nélisse), a foster home failure, consistently hopes for reunion
with a mother who never comes for her.
Additional Thanks
Thank
you to Director Stephen Herek for his directing efforts. Thank you to Executive
Producers Chip Flaherty, Peyton Kay, William Kay, and Eve Schoukroun for making
the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Maime Trotter (Kathy
Bates), Nonnie (Glenn Close), Ms. Harris (Octavia Spencer), Courtney (Julia
Stiles), Mr. Randolph (Bill Cobbs), Ellis (Billy Magnussen), W.E. (Zachary
Hernandez), and Agnes (Clare Foley).
Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?
No.
The Great Gilly Hopkins seems to have
a message; but that message, unfortunately, becomes convoluted and difficult to
decipher. The film lacks the power to carry its story through.
Video Critique Available Here:
Ben Meyers
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