[xrr rating=2.75/5]
I found the woman, and the movie, to be very like iron… strong, but dull.
Question: What did the man say to the three holes in the ground?
Answer: “Well, well, well.”
And that pretty much sums up my review of “The Iron Lady.”
This movie was well written. This movie was well acted. And this movie was, well, kind of boring.
Don’t get me wrong, I sat through it, so it must have been somewhat entertaining. It just didn’t have that “BOOM” that I like to see in my movies.
“The Iron Lady” tells the story of the first female Prime Minister of England, Margaret Thatcher. It takes you through her entire life from childhood until now.
Margaret was born the daughter of her father and mother. They ran a family grocery store. Margaret knew how to stretch a buck. She wasn’t upper-class. She wasn’t royalty. Her family wasn’t rich or anything. They were common folk, just like you and me, but living in England.
Margaret was a smart gal. She knew the prices of everything in the store and she knew how to economize and live on a budget. This would help her down the road when she would eventually enter politics.
There’s a scene in the movie where Margaret rattles off the price of fancy butter, then she says the price of regular butter, then she finally tells us the price of margarine. At this point I was saying to myself, “Wow! How uninteresting.” About five minutes later, in the next scene, she and her family are hiding under the kitchen table because the air-raid sirens are going off (this is taking place during WWII). All of a sudden her father yells, “We forgot to cover the butter!” And Margaret, the hero, hops out from under the table and runs over to the butter! I honestly thought at this point she was going to stick her fingers in the butter, but she simply covered the butter and ran back under the table. And… SCENE!
I have no idea what the butter is like in jolly old England, but they sure do take their pride in it.
The story then follows her to college where she becomes involved with her future husband, Mr. Thatcher, and her journey towards politics hits the fast track.
What I liked about this part of the movie was that, this is where she really becomes a strong woman. This was during a time when women were home-makers and were never really in the spotlight, let alone the political spotlight. She was becoming powerful and I liked this because she had the brains to make a major difference in Great Britain’s political world. She was an inspiration for all women.
One scene I want to tell you about is when in 1982, Argentina attacked the Falkland Islands (which are owned by Great Britain) and Prime Minister Thatcher is talking to the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Our guy was like, “Let it go, the Islands aren’t a big deal.” And Margaret says, “Did you just ‘let it go’ when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese? No, you didn’t, and we’re not putting up with this _______!!!” (insert swear-word here).
Now, I know that last paragraph I just typed may be 37 to 100 percent inaccurate, but that’s the way it entered my brain as I was watching it. So if I’m a little off on the exact details, get in touch with me and I’ll buy you a Fribble.
The movie also revolves around Margaret Thatcher now having dementia. She was having hallucinations about people being around her that weren’t. And that was sad. It’s sad to see that disease affect people.
Moving on. Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher, and who better than her to play this character? She’s already won a Golden Globe for this role. I think it was solely on her acting because unfortunately, I found Mrs. Thatcher rather dull.
On a lighter note, I think many of you world history and political buffs will love this movie. But if you’re at all like me, you probably won’t.
God Bless the Queen.
Fun Fact: Robert DeNiro said his favorite actress to work with is Meryl Streep.
Fun Matty Fact: I seldom eat butter anymore because it goes straight to my thighs.