Anna Nicole (2013)

Well I didn't hate this, it was pretty interesting actually, especially the early years of Anna before she became tabloid fodder. Anna Nicole Smith was one of those celebrities who was always all over the news and gossip mags, so that even if you didn't want to know, you knew exactly what she was up to. On that note this made watching "the story of her life" way more interesting because I remember the headlines.Agnes Brucker does a decent job here portraying Smith who goes from small-town Texas teen to Playboy pinup to Guess model, including her marriage to an elderly oil tycoon, Hollywood excesses and tragic death at age 39.Surprisingly this does not go into the media sh!t storm that followed after her death when everyone was laying claim to being the baby daddy.Martin Landau is excellent as her older billionaire husband "Paw Paw" and the makeup people also did a great job with her ever changing weight, hairstyles and wardrobe. 08.13

What a difference a chance encounter can make! When Anna Nicole Smith says "hello, handsome" to an 86-year-old Texas billionaire who visits the strip club where she gyrated, she sets in motion an exhilarating ascent and dizzying plummet to despair and death.Smith loved the seeming adoration that always eluded her growing up but when it demanded too much from her -- as in posing nude for Playboy -- she became hopelessly addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs.Not only is Agnes Bruckner a dead-ringer for the platinum-blonde bombshell but she creates a very convincing portrait of a woman who never lied to J. Howard Marshall ("Paw-paw) or promised to be monogamous. Either someone was terrific at makeup and prosthetics, or the role called for Bruckner to gain a huge amount of weight. Either way we watch in a kind of horror as we observe Anna's descent into self-destruction and debauchery. Martin Landau is surprisingly endearing as the magnate charmed by his "lady love" and last chance at affection, if only of the platonic sort."The woman has given me a reason to keep breathing!" he exults to his son, played with icy conviction by Cary Elwes.The wheelchair-bound Marshall is instantly smitten by Anna, but depicted as lucid when he seemingly adopts and then weds Anna -- but not necessarily all-there when he agrees, close to his end, to cede all financial control over his fortune to his son.Also turning in a powerful performance is Graham Patrick Martin as the child Anna had while still a teenager. Anna and Danny grew up together and he seems to take on a fatherly role toward the end of the story.While Anna's devoted lawyer, Howard K. Stern, is depicted here as a socially insecure man with seemingly nothing else going on in his life, photographer Larry Birkhead is given even less examination. We learn nothing about Anna's reported/apparent decision to exclude him from any role involving the daughter he fathers in her last year of life. Such quibbles don't add up to much in a solidly satisfying production that will deepen viewers' understanding of a compellingly tragic personality.

I personally loved the movie! I did notice a similarity to 'Norma Jean & Marilyn' with the talking to the older and younger self so I understood it. Agnes did a superb job!!! I have become a fan! And the haunting rendition of FAME by Amy Gerhartz was to die for. Too bad it wasn't used in the actual movie. The ending was so sad. I can't help but feel sorry for Anna. So many people used her in her life, even her own family. The only person she could truly rely on was Daniel and she was devastated to of lost him. It would of been nice if they did this as a Mini-Series instead of a 2 hour movie. All the actors were truly extraordinary and I definitely thought this movie was WAY better than LIZ & DICK, which was a flop.

TV biopics rarely have the sort of depth that a feature has. I was looking forward to this one because I've always admired and enjoyed Director Mary Harron's work. But not even a really good cast and director could make this film any deeper than its subject matter. In all fairness, there wasn't that much to say without speculating -- which wasn't really the purpose of the film.Fresh on the heels of the amazing HBO documentary called "Love, Marilyn," I was anxious to see how Anna Nicole's story would unfold, given that Marilyn Monroe was such an obvious inspiration for Anna Nicole. Certainly, if anyone in this century embodied sex appeal in some of the same ways as Marilyn, it would be Anna. However, unlike Marilyn - there was really never any attempt apparent that she took acting very seriously as Marilyn did. I'd be interested to know how much Lifetime producers may have interfered with the production of Anna Nicole because that would be a sure indicator of a less than stellar production to follow.I wasn't expecting all that much, given the subject matter - but I was at least expecting a more enlightening rendering of it. It's not bad enough not to see -- but it was nothing that merits seeing again, for sure.