| Overall Grade: |
B- |
|
| Story: |
C+ |
|
|
| Acting: |
B+ |
|
|
| Direction: |
B- |
|
|
| Visuals: |
B- |
|
|
Interesting But Flawed
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Jun 13, 2006
1
of
1 people found this review helpful
"the notorious betty page" kept me interested while i watched, but ultimately left me puzzled. it was amusing to see the kind of material that the censors of the '50s considered a scourge worse than heroin, especially when viewed in juxtaposition to something like the preview of "woodenhead" which i saw in the same theatre. gretchen mol was excellent and was probably the major reason i remained interested.
ultimately, the movie was a disappointment. it is difficult to imagine that someone as simple as betty page was depicted to be could have survived at all - in new york, in the gritty world of pornography production or simply in this world. the klaws were presented as fairly benign producers; mildly sleazy and avarious but with cream-puff hearts and no need to resort to anything really awful to get the girls to gambol in the woods naked in front of a camera. no drugs, no booze, no real sex; just three golden-hearted porn stars making a little money catering to the slightly bizarre interests of a niche audience. the klaws certainly were presented as more likable than betty's own family.
given the fact that BP was abused sexually by her father (after church), a battered wife and the victim of a pretty horrific sexual attack as a young woman, her life as a porn star - managed by the cuddly klaws - was presented as a big improvement in her circumstances. perhaps it was; i certainly prefer life in new york to life in the country/now suburbs where i grew up (and i had a good childhood). BUT, in this film, there was a major disconnect between the girl who was a debater and missed being the class valedictorian by an A- and the almost mentally impaired porno pin-up who, upon hearing one father testify to the fatal effect of demon bondage on his son, reverts back to fundamentalist christianity and becomes a street missionary (presumably in the same central park in which she posed for the pornographers cameras). |
My Public Profile 
