Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996)

Excellent but underrated film

best movie i've ever seen.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie takes a look at the iconic legend from two sides of her persona. Norma Jean Dougherty (Ashley Judd) is the ambitious small town girl and Marilyn Monroe (Mira Sorvino) is the construct after the plastic surgery. She had an unstable mother and an absent father. Her aunt left her in the orphanage after her uncle made a pass. In Hollywood, the married model Norma Jean dates actor Eddie Jordan (Josh Charles) and uses his connections. She vows to be the biggest star ever. Despite the good news of her divorce, she is angrily jealous of Eddie signing a studio contract. She's willing to sleep around including Eddie's uncle Ted to get ahead. Through Ted, she gets to big Hollywood agent Johnny Hyde (Ron Rifkin).This has the feel of an unauthorized sensationalized TV biopic. Ashley Judd is acting for all her worth in this one. She also gets really naked. It seems desperate. Norma Jean had a desperate drive and I can't separate the story from the sense of movie-making. Nevertheless, it probably has more reality than fiction. This is not some high brow affair despite the high brow concept of two actresses playing the same role. The concept functions well. Mira Sorvino does a fine Monroe imitation although it doesn't feel real. This does try to do a psychological conflict between the two personalities although I like more the Monroe as a smart calculating performer rather than a tragic mental case. Everybody wants the tragic flaw. In the end, this is a functional TV biopic but it seems to be trying too hard for my taste.

When Joe DiMaggio died, Jill Isaacs, the writer of this movie, wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Times about him and Marilyn Monroe that I found moving. It made me wonder what was it about her which compelled his devotion. I was reminded of that as I caught this the other night, and I thought: why didn't Isaacs write about THAT instead of churning out this dreck?The only original thing here is two Marilyns for the price of one -- kind of like splitting the atom, if you ask me. Imagine Frankenstein and the Creature - each with his own hangups - in the same body, and you get an idea of what it was like to be Marilyn Monroe (based on what I've read, anyway).Isaacs offers no insight into how or why Monroe became what she became. You can say it was her childhood, but countless others have had miserable childhoods, too. Why did she go into the movies? Most importantly, how did she create Marilyn Monroe? Even after she became the biggest star in the world, she continued to refine the persona with huge chunks of her "real self". I think the reason for Monroe's enduring appeal is that her "real self" was a genuinely nice person, and not the calculating harpy that we get here.Then there are the campy moments. What was Isaacs trying to do? You don't just stumble upon a brilliant career. What about talent? Determination? Dedication to one's craft? Instead, we get a vapid creature who sleeps her way to the top, and tramples on virtually everyone unfortunate enough to cross her path. As a result, I found myself waiting for her to kick off.The fact Judd and Sorvino come THIS CLOSE to overcoming all that is a credit to them as actors.

Three letters describe my expression of this portrayal of one of Hollywood's biggest legends:W O WAside from a complete new look at the woman who awed even an American President, the acting is sumised as a powerful tug on my very own heart strings. Both leads are astonishing in their ability to encapsulate an American Idol while personally sharing situations & emotions that will grip everyone who experiences this masterpiece.That's all I am gonna say... now- don't just go rent this one- BUY IT!

(Um. This contains spoilers. I think.)"Norma Jean & Marilyn" is a unique and daring movie considering its subject - the late movie icon and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, whose life, you might think, has been chewed over and harped on more than any other movie star's in the history of the universe. Yet, new books are published as we speak (or I type, LOL), new documents are made all the time, and, as rare as it is, someone has actually made a movie about her life. Now, you might wonder, who on *earth* would be casted to play this immortal creature, the most beautiful thing that has ever existed (in my subtle opinion)? The film-makers decided to split the immeasurable pressure - to Ashley Judd, also known from her work in the movies "Someone Like You", "Double Jeopardy", "Kiss The Girls", "Frida", and "The Divine Sisters Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and to Mira Sorvino of "Mighty Aphrodite" (heh, heh), "Summer Of Sam", "At First Sight" and "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion". Judd plays Norma Jeane (with an "e", mind you) Baker/Mortensen/Dougherty (Monroe was born Mortensen, baptized Baker, and after marriage Dougherty), the brown-haired, naive young girl who wants to be famous. Sorvino, on the other hand, plays the grand movie star Marilyn.The movie itself contains many factual errors and people that did not exist in Marilyn's life, as far as I'm concerned, but manages to capture what some might see as the most important events of her life and career. This includes singing "Happy Birthday" to JFK, her most famous movies, etc. However, the movie only displays her marriages very briefly and her childhood very shallowly and incorrectly. Joe DiMaggio, arguably the love of Marilyn's life, is only shown briefly and all evidence of their newly-formed relationship and planned wedding right before her death are ignored. "Norma Jean and Marilyn" shows Norma Jeane (it's with an "e", dammit!), the young and fragile yet ambitious girl as an all-shagging, calculating, hollow and shallow whore. Which, I'm rather sure, she was not. The movie displays Marilyn, the grown-up movie star, on the other hand, as a drunk-twenty-four-seven, medicine-addicted, thoughtless and unskilled slut. Now, I am not saying she wasn't any of those, since I was born decades later and have/had no connection to her personally, whatsoever, but am saying that the movie completely closed all the alternatives that she was, say, a fragile, love-seeking little girl in a woman's body, with father traumas and a low self-esteem.The movie-makers exaggerate Marilyn's mental troubles and display her death clearly from only their point of view. All possibilities of murder etc. are wiped off. Also Marilyn's maid, Eunice Murray, who has ever since (she did in the 80's, though) been suspected to have had something to do with Marilyn's death, was completely left out of the movie. In the movie, Marilyn's "old self", Norma Jeane, haunts her throughout her adult life, making her insane. This leaves the viewer considering those two as different persons, even though they're supposed to be the same woman post- and sans stardom.But, despite the factual errors etc., "Norma Jean & Marilyn" isn't THAT bad. The two leading actresses do a good job and manage to even remind me of Marilyn by their looks, voice, essence and gestures. The male actors, especially Josh Charles (as a male friend of Marilyn's who, as far as I'm concerned, never excisted) and Ron Rifkin (as Johnny Hyde, Marilyn's agent in the early days of her career), are rather good as well. The script, on the other hand, isn't much to go for and leaves the actors only a few good scenes to carry off. The oversized need to show as many pair of breasts and love scenes as possible tends to annoy while watching the movie. Apparently, to the movie-makers Marilyn's sex appeal and sexuality are both completely presented and pushed into a nutshell in a few pair of tits.But, to sum up... An OK movie, containing with just about as much you can get out of this phenomenal actress and icon into a TV movie. The actors work fine together but the direction and script aren't much to go for. "Norma Jean and Marilyn" isn't a good movie to see when you're just about to start studying Marilyn's life. How about you check out one of her own movies, instead.As a movie, 6/10. As a biographical movie, which, I'm sure, it wasn't even supposed to be, 2/10.