The 10 Most Disappointing Movies Of The Past 5 Years

From:  The Backlot

8. 

W.E.

Now, no one thought Madonna‘s first directorial feature was going to win the Palme d’Or. Or even the Saturn Award equivalent of the Palme d’Or. But I’m hoping I speak for others when I say the combination of Madonna’s eye and Wallis Simpson’s strange, distinct, and often contemptible life seemed potentially interesting. “Interesting” is the last thing W.E. is. It is a three-hour De Beers commercial. Andrea Riseborough is charming (and a dead ringer for young Bette Davis) as Wallis, but Abbie Cornish is a rich, unlikable, shallow husk as Wallis’ contemporary counterpart. (Did I mention there’s a parallel storyline here? Because there is one, and it’s meaningless.) Worse, scenes of domestic violence are laughably over dramatic, and the Golden Globe-winning Madonna tune at the end of the film, “Masterpiece,” is easily one of her worst songs ever. Poor James D’Arcy, so august and good-looking as Edward VIII and as Anthony Perkins in Hitchcock, another disappointing, glossy period piece.