The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe

It was such a nice change to see a movie of Marilyn Monroe depicting her personal life and struggles.I have read many many books on Marilyn and I thought this was spot on. Congratulations to Lifetime Movies. Also congratulations to Kelli Garner and Susan Sarandon. It was difficult for Susan as in real life Marilyn did not spend a lot of time with her mother. Apparently Marilyn always lived with a fear of inheriting her mother's mental illness. It was also nice to still enjoy a movie on Marilyn Monroe after such a long time after her death.I believe Kelli captured Marilyn's voice extremely well. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to others for viewing. Thanks!!!

I enjoyed this mostly for the stellar supporting performances by Jeffrey Dean Morgan as a much-sexier-than-real-life Joe DiMaggio, Stephen Bogaert as Arthur Miller, Tamara Hickey as Pat Kennedy Lawford and Susan Sarandon as Marilyn's mother, Gladys. They all made what is basically a run-of-the-mill Lifetime movie worthwhile.

Kelli Garner, in the main role as Marilyn Monroe, gives a breathy impression of Marilyn's famous speaking voice, but not much else. She never really conveys the conflict and pain of being Marilyn. It's like she's doing a celebrity impression instead of really becoming the character.

I know that it was made for basic cable and so they couldn't show much during the sex scenes, but it is particularly laughable when Marilyn and Joe DiMaggio are supposed to be having hot sex on a hotel bed but she leaves on her very visible granny panties and he doesn't even pull down his trousers, resulting in Morgan lying on top of Garner fully clothed while they grunt away. Surely the director could have found some way to make it look plausible that they might actually be having sex without offending the network censors.

I have to agree with the previous reviewer, jlthornb51. This production was shoddy and a great waste of my time. I kept hoping it would get better, but it seemed to get worse and worse. No offense to Kelli Garner, but much of the fault seems to lie with her "terrible imitation of MM's iconic voice" as jlthornb51 put it, along with her lack of acting skills. Any potential was ruined by the poor casting of Kelli Garner coupled with her much too superficial performance. Susan Sarandon's role seemed a little bit overplayed, but not terrible. Emily Watson gave a decent performance which had to be difficult to pull off, given all the other deficiencies she faced from the script to being forced to play against depthless performances of the other actors. Kudos to Emily Watson for pulling off a positive performance in the face of the otherwise boring overplayed production. Kelli Garner's superficial acting was almost like a caricature of MM, ruining the entire mini-series.

Finally, an actress who captures Marilyn Monroe in all her mannerisms, voice, looks, personality (Kelli Garner). Previous Monroe portrayals are easily forgotten in light of this lovely reproduction of the tragic star's vulnerability, charm, sexiness & spunk. Why did it take so long? Susan Sarandon as mother Gladys is also excellent & typical of Sarandon's professionalism in playing a supporting role with grace and class. The other players are well cast where it matters most: looks, demeanor, voice, such as Pat Kennedy Lawford with a Boston accent. Joe DiMaggio is lean and angular; Arthur Miller smokes a pipe. Not to simplify the elements of writing and direction, but as I said, previous Monroe biopics have failed at the most elemental level: when Marilyn is in front of the camera, she'd better be a decent reincarnation. This movie nailed it.

its virtues - the good intentions to present a realistic portrait of her life. reminds of memorable scenes. the admirable work of Susan Sarandon. the atmosphere. Emma Watson. the desire of Kelli Garner to be Marlyn Monroe and the run to give the impression to be the perfect choice for act she ( voice, walk, physical appearance, gestures). its sins - the title who seems escaped from a scandal newspaper because the revelation are not news and it is bizarre to pretend present a complex biography in each of its details. the ambition to tell all in a mini series and the taste of improvised puzzle. the hard work of Kelli Garner to convince the public than she is the best Marlyn. the ambition is real admirable and the result far to be bad but , scene by scene, it becomes strange. a beautiful series. that is its basic good point. for remind. for rediscover. and for give new shadows to a myth.