Radium Girls

Important story but poor acting and directing. Liked some of the period clothes and sets but there were also many errors that the editor & director missed...50 star flag, swing music. I almost recommended this to my daughters. Decided the cons outweighed the pros.

This movie should've been a documentary about an actual historical event, but the writers turned it into a borderline coming-of-age story about a naive girl turned strong, with a little bit of history in it. The lead role's personality is so naive it's insufferable.

The story line is full of filler scenes and is hard to follow, due to the odd cut scenes, bad dialogue, and no visual perspective (the camera stays zoomed in on faces throughout, with very rare zoomed out scenes). The camera often blends different photos in the background to indicate that time went by in the movie... I thought this technique went out of style years ago.

It is extremely disappointing how little actual facts were presented. After seeing the trailer, I was looking forward to the scientific and legal details, since in reality there are plenty. But to be honest there aren't many shown and you could basically infer everything that happens in the movie from the trailer.

I really have no idea why they decided to base the movie's plot about the girl's naivete and feelings rather than detailed facts from multiple characters' perspectives. Really a waste of huge potential.

Radium girls has strong potential storyline wise, it's historical and mostly unknown. The medical effects on the girls is horrific and the coverup sensational. However, this movie is plagued by bad acting, a low budget, and a meandering story. With so much going on why are there so many filler scenes? The flashes of old time footage were unnecessary and most of the conversations were pointless.

They managed to take a piece of women's history and make it dull. Read the book.

It's 1920's New Jersey. It's the age of wonderous new materials and social justice movements. Bessie (Joey King) and Josephine Cavallo are two of the Radium Girls. They apply glowing radium paint onto watch dials for American Radium. The process requires them licking the brush before applying the paint. Jo gets sick. Their oldest sister Mary is dead. Bessie is told that the Radium is poisoning them.

It's an important historical story. As a movie, it runs into some slow sections and some melodramatic moments. Despite that, it's a compelling story. I do wonder if they could have used the real girls' names and stories. It's almost a hundred years ago. It also needs to set up the scale of the problem. I couldn't tell how many women worked in that industry. The drama is limited, but the melodrama is there. All in all, the historical story is compelling enough to keep this movie interesting enough.