Anna Nicole: star déchue

This film was not geniously architected, but it portrays Vicky/ Anna in a honorable way, and the viewer never see an obscene image from the beginning to the end of this piece. We all knew that Anna Nicole had a reputation to be a sex, drugs and rock & roll abuser, but, through the scenes it's well notorious the unconditional love that she had for her son, Daniel. He was always her light, the star that shine in her life. And it's factual too, that she did the best she could, the best that she had learned herself, since she was alone throughout her young adult life and motherhood. Yes, she was over the top, and not politically correct, but that character/ personality aggregated to her overwhelming appearance made her who she was: the desirable, yet suffering with inner trauma, 21st century Marylin Monroe. The director made an excellent job with this biography movie, showing more the personality, the human being, without focusing too much in the scandals and on the negative side of her life. Over all, I was expecting worse and have a slightly good surprise. And this goes into the light.

Following the rocky road and life a times of Playboy model and 'actress' Anna Nicole Smith up to her untimely death of 39.

Actress Agnes Bruckner delivers a fine portray of the larger than life troubled Anna Nicole/Vicky Lynn. While not being an Anna look-a-like Bruckner certainly captures Anna's spirit and persona, at times effectively laying down some of heart wrenching scenes. Although this a steppingstone presentation of her life, it covers the main highs and lows but leaves you with a lingering feeling that it's a little rushed.

The acting for the most part is impressive especially from Bruckner, Cary Elwes - Marshall's son, Virginia Madsen - Anna's mother and Martin Landau as billionaire J. Howard Marshall. American Psycho (2000) director Mary Harron keeps it interesting and fast paced. The prosthetic make-up effects of Anna's assets and weight gain are particularly notable.

The Anna's voice from the grave aspect, her younger self and Marilyn Monroe vision/dream additions scripted by Joe Batteer and John Rice keep the proceedings at times eerily compelling.

Its an especially well made for a TV movie and thankfully treats the departed with respect while at the same time being entertaining and highlighting the superficial world of celebrities. As an anti-drug movie look no further and to the producers credit ironically and in contrast to Anna's real life job offers it's certainly not a cheap cash-in.

So much was left out. When i first saw it on and saw that brief moment when she met her daughter's father. That should've have been longer. There is no detail about their relationship cuz clearly it was more then a one time thing otherwise the custody battle after her death wouldn't have happened. Her weight loss journey wasn't documented enough, hell her weight gain wasn't talked about. Absolutely no details of the court case was really given. And that's all public records.

Biography films just isn't for lifetime.

I personally loved the movie! I did notice a similarity to 'Norma Jean & Marilyn' with the talking to the older and younger self so I understood it. Agnes did a superb job!!! I have become a fan! And the haunting rendition of FAME by Amy Gerhartz was to die for. Too bad it wasn't used in the actual movie. The ending was so sad. I can't help but feel sorry for Anna. So many people used her in her life, even her own family. The only person she could truly rely on was Daniel and she was devastated to of lost him. It would of been nice if they did this as a Mini-Series instead of a 2 hour movie. All the actors were truly extraordinary and I definitely thought this movie was WAY better than LIZ & DICK, which was a flop.

Anna Nicole (2013)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Made-for-TV movie from Lifetime about the life of Anna Nicole Smith (Agnes Bruckner) who we see as a young single mother to her marriage to billionaire J. Howard Marshall (Martin Landau) and of course through her troubled drug use. ANNA NICOLE is nicely directed by Mary Harron and it features some good performances but in the end there are just way too many problems for it to work as well as it needed to. For starters, the film seems pretty rushed trying to fit all of Smith's story into a 90-minute running time as we bounce around quite a bit and the film never really seems to focus on anything. Another problem are a few gimmicks that are used throughout the picture including a really silly one where the young Smith sees a "future" version of herself. At the same time, the older Smith seeing a "younger" version of herself has no impact either. I'd also say that the movie doesn't work with the silly narration, which is coming from the dead Smith looking back over her life. With that said, Bruckner does a nice job in the lead role even though she never really looks or acts like the real person. For the most part I thought she did a good job at showing a troubled person. Landau easily steals the picture as the elderly man who falls in love with the stripper he meets and Cary Elwes is also good as his son. Adam Goldberg does a nice job in the role of Howard K. Stern and Virginia Madsen is good as Smith's mother, although the screenplay really doesn't do many favors for the character. Harron does a nice job at keeping the film moving at a good pace but there's just too many issues with the screenplay for this to be a complete winner. It also doesn't help that Smith isn't all that sympathetic. Still, for a made-for-TV film this here isn't too bad as a quick time killer.