← Back to Reviews
in
Shirley
Despite a story based in fact and some terrific performances, the 2020 film Shirley never fully engages the viewer thanks to a rambling screenplay that clumsily tries to combine fact and speculation into a muddled story that rarely provides focus on the story's most interesting elements.
The film begins in the 1950's where we meet a young college professor named Fred Nemser who is traveling with his pregnant wife, Rose to accept a job at a college where Stanley Hyman is one of the most popular professors. On the train, Rose is observed reading the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and is fascinated when she learns that Hyman and Jackson are married. Jackson is allegedly beginning to write a new novel called "Hangsmen" but hasn't written much , not mention hasn't left her home in three years. Fred and Rose find themselves a little too tangled into the lives of Hyman and Jackson, though Hyman and Jackson do find themselves as obsessed with the Nemsers as they seem to be with them.
There's a really good film in here somewhere, but Sarah Gubbins' screenplay, based on a novel by Susan Scarf Merrell, is just a little too confusing as it attempts to meld fact and fiction, real and imaginary characters with only middling success. Other than the fact the she wrote "The Lottery", I knew precious little about Jackson and didn't learn much more after watching this film. It would have been interesting if this film had focused upon the time that she was writing "The Lottery", which might have made a much more interesting story. Instead, what we get is a slightly insane Jackson thinking she has complete insight into Rose's marriage and Stanley's on and off attempts to seduce Rose while controlling Jackson. It's sort of an inane melding of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Trumbo, that turns out pretentious and a little too angry to keep us interested.
Director Josephine Decker shows some imagination in her direction, I just wish she had a better screenplay to work with. Elisabeth Moss and Michael Stuhlberg (The Color of Water; Call Me By Your Name) give Oscar worthy performances as Shirley jackson and Stanley Hyman. Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)) also impresses as young Fred, but the whole things is just too syrupy and heavy to function as geniuine entertainment.
Despite a story based in fact and some terrific performances, the 2020 film Shirley never fully engages the viewer thanks to a rambling screenplay that clumsily tries to combine fact and speculation into a muddled story that rarely provides focus on the story's most interesting elements.
The film begins in the 1950's where we meet a young college professor named Fred Nemser who is traveling with his pregnant wife, Rose to accept a job at a college where Stanley Hyman is one of the most popular professors. On the train, Rose is observed reading the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and is fascinated when she learns that Hyman and Jackson are married. Jackson is allegedly beginning to write a new novel called "Hangsmen" but hasn't written much , not mention hasn't left her home in three years. Fred and Rose find themselves a little too tangled into the lives of Hyman and Jackson, though Hyman and Jackson do find themselves as obsessed with the Nemsers as they seem to be with them.
There's a really good film in here somewhere, but Sarah Gubbins' screenplay, based on a novel by Susan Scarf Merrell, is just a little too confusing as it attempts to meld fact and fiction, real and imaginary characters with only middling success. Other than the fact the she wrote "The Lottery", I knew precious little about Jackson and didn't learn much more after watching this film. It would have been interesting if this film had focused upon the time that she was writing "The Lottery", which might have made a much more interesting story. Instead, what we get is a slightly insane Jackson thinking she has complete insight into Rose's marriage and Stanley's on and off attempts to seduce Rose while controlling Jackson. It's sort of an inane melding of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Trumbo, that turns out pretentious and a little too angry to keep us interested.
Director Josephine Decker shows some imagination in her direction, I just wish she had a better screenplay to work with. Elisabeth Moss and Michael Stuhlberg (The Color of Water; Call Me By Your Name) give Oscar worthy performances as Shirley jackson and Stanley Hyman. Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)) also impresses as young Fred, but the whole things is just too syrupy and heavy to function as geniuine entertainment.