My Review of "Florence Foster Jenkins"

I barely heard anything about the movie Florence Foster Jenkins. It was released back in 2016 and I had no idea it was based on a true story. Period movies don't normally get to me but if a movie company is willing to gamble millions of dollars to get this movie on the movie screen then the story has to be interesting, right? Recently, it was added to Netflix so I decided to dive in. Boy was I happy that I got to see it.

Meryl Streep stars as the title character of this movie. She's a rich aristocrat that's got a ton of passion for the arts. The art community fawns over her because she donates so much money to the community. Little does she know that they're a bunch of yes men. They agree with everything she does because they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them.

She is married to St. Clair Bayfield, played by Hugh Grant. In the beginning of this movie I didn't know what to make of this guy. He seems like the obvious sleazeball that's trying to gold dig for Mrs. Jenkins' fortune. I'm happy to say that there's more to this character than meets the eye.

As Mrs. Jenkins has access to so many performances and acts there is one act in particular that grabs her attention. This performance was so good that she's inspired to become a singer herself. The problem is that she can't carry a tune for the life of her. Many would think money would be able to solve this problem. She could simply pay for the best teachers in the world and become a great singer.

That's not how this movie turns out. She is just a bad singer and that's the way it is. With tons of moxie and enthusiasm she continues with her singing career. With all of the yes men trying to cash in on her wealth no one is willing to tell her the truth. It's like a story of the emperor with no clothes.

I'm glad to also inform you that this isn't entirely a movie about that either. There are questions of morality in play for this movie. Do you tell someone to stop trying because they're bad at something? Or do you tell them to continue because it's a dream of theirs? Another question pops up for many of the characters. How long do you stick with someone if their company may become a detriment to your career? So there's questions of loyalty and there's questions of doing what's right. It's kind of funny because these questions continue to cross every one of us even today.

That's why I think this movie is very relatable. Although Mrs. Jenkins was ultra rich and lives a sheltered life she was still struggling like the rest of us to make her dreams come true. Now I guess it was much easier for her to make her dreams come true but we can see ourselves looking at the same situations or at least see what her friends and family see.

This movie is downright hilarious at times. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a downer drama but it's got everything. It was cleverly written and fun for the whole family. The trailers for the movie didn't do it justice because this movie is a movie for the dreamers out there.

Overall, I can't give this movie enough praise for what it is. It was extremely entertaining from start to finish. Those that are really sensitive to tone should not watch this because Mrs. Jenkins is honest a very bad singer. You'll cringe at how bad she is. Still, this is a very relatable character despite the fact that she's terribly rich and has tons of influence. I will have to give this movie an 8.5 out of 10. It is great movie for anyone but you might have to coax someone to try it out.