Philomena Review

Grade: C+

One-Liner: Definitely worth a viewing, but not a nomination.

If Philomena taught me one thing, it’s that nuns are evil, terrifying baby snatchers, and you should never join them. Never. But that’s the last thing that Philomena Lee, the person, would want me to take from her touching story.

The polite, tortured, and forgiving Irish woman, played by Judi Dench, could teach us all a lesson in humility. Based off of a true story, Philomena alternated between 2009 and Philomena’s time at the Abbey  in the ‘50s, where she was in training to be a nun until she had sex at a carnival. Sigh, ain’t it always the way?

Without a mother to teach her about sex, Philomena’s “sin” ended up costing her a life with her child as she worked tirelessly for the sisters before they gave her son up for adoption.

As a story, it was compelling, even when I expected it to fall flat, but when compared to some of the other Oscar nominees this year, I’m thoroughly surprised that it earned four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress.

Once again, Judi Dench did a good job at playing Judi Dench with slightly less sass and edge, but nothing in her performance was Oscar-worthy. Many view Philomena as the “dark horse” of this year’s awards season, but I’d strongly disagree, instead noting the hilarious, dark, and touching Nebraska as this year’s Cinderella story. The acting far surpassed that of Philomena, and the writing wasn’t even on the same level.

If anyone should be noted for their work in Philomena, it should be the film’s writer and secondary star Steve Coogan, who did a superb job at playing asshole journalist Martin Sixsmith. Coogan’s refusal to make his character overly endearing or particularly admirable provided the perfect contrast to Philomena’s raw compassion. Coogan could have easily caved and shown a major transformation within Martin over the course of the film, but it seemed much more realistic that he continued to be a jerk throughout the film’s entirety.

In reality Philomena is a great story that managed to offer some surprises even when I predicted most of what would happen early on. But after The Academy wrangled it into the Best Picture category with peers like Gravity and The Wolf of Wall Street, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Never thought I’d say this, but Judi Dench is not worthy.