The Most Hated Woman in America

This film tells the story of an activist who goes missing.

I haven't heard of this real life story before, so I find the story intriguing and engaging. It is quite sad that her son didn't care about her disappearance at all. It is also sad that she seems to have alienated everyone around her, when all she has done is to speak her mind.

Unfortunately, the film collapses under the weight of its own subject, which is a shame because it wastes a great performance from Melissa Leo and also the story is fascinating.

My god whoever did the wardrobe and makeup should be fired. Poor Melissa Leo is not fooling anyone with her wigs and fake belly.

The director, who was also the co-writer, seems overwhelmed with so much information (the film is only an hour and a half and it could've been more). All the actors, beside Leo, are terrible and wasted.

I would love to see this subject in the hands of a capable director. It could've been so much meatier.

Melissa Leo is a great actress. Madalyn Murray O'Hair, as presented here, was not a likable person. Coming from the fifties as she did, the ugliness she was subjected to, just as with the civil rights movement, would tend to make anyone re-act like a snarling badger. She was the point of the spear in the fight against the religious tyranny that is, and has always been, right around the corner. The right to say: "I don't believe it and you can't make me." was fought for and should not be taken for granted. A very American story in every detail. In the beginning, I got the feeling it was going to have a 'Coenesque' flavor to it. If the same thought occurs to you, dismiss it. It's a dramatized bio rearranged to feel like a thriller.

The subject matter is interesting - it's about the woman who led the charge to make sure that state and religion were separate. She was an atheist, but in many ways, she was fighting for freedom of religion. However, this movie takes a very comedic tone to it all, and it covers so many landmark events in her life. So in the end, it feels more like a quirky montage of her life than anything that carries real emotional weight.

This is a prime example of lazy screen writing. There are several things that the movie got wrong compared to the actual events. Plus, it's like they took the script directly from O'Hairs Wikipedia page or a quick google search. It offers nothing new to the story. Hopefully someone will redo it the right way, because it had so much potential.