'Albert Nobbs'

'Albert Nobbs' (11) (R) (2 STARS)

Writers: Gabriella Prekop, John Banville and Glenn Close
Based on a short story by Istvan Szabo based on a short story by George Moore
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Starring: Glenn Close, Janet McTeer, Mia Warsikowska, Brenda Fricker, Brendan Gleeson, Aaron Johnson, Pauline Collins, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

"Albert Nobbs" has the look right and the acting is wonderful but why did I feel no emotional connection to the characters or the story? Glenn Close is great as Albert Nobbs who is really a woman pretending to be a man in 19th century Dublin. She works as a waiter in a hotel and has to dress and act like a man because a woman would never be hired as a waiter in those times. Also she doesn't have enough money to survive and a woman has to do what a woman has to do.

There have been many so called "Drag" movies where either a man dresses up as a woman or a woman dresses up as a man. The two best are "Victor/Victoria and "Tootsie" of course and "Albert Nobbs has big shoes to fill. It is better than the dreadful "Mrs. Doubtfire" but I felt that the movie was too timid, polite and dull in stretches. The movie needs more fire to match it's performances. It might be the fault of the director Rodrigo Garcia but also the screenplay needed tinkering. It has one character that has a lot of screen time but I thought messed with the flow of the movie.

Albert takes a fancy to a maid in the hotel played by the beautiful Mia Warsikowska. Her name is Helen and Helen starts to feel an attraction to a drifter who comes upon the hotel and maneuvers into a job there. That drifter is overbearing and thinks Albert can be used to get Helen and him to America. As he starts to feel hatred towards Albert I felt the character just set a different tone to the movie. The rest of the movie has some sweet moments and the tone of the movie is light and that drifter character is weak when the others come off stronger. Also the main love story and the direction of the movie just meanders to an unsatisfactory ending.

The movie starts to build and then just fizzles in the end. The movie is based on a short story that was an Off Broadway play in 1982. I had reviewed a movie based on a play called "Carnage" a week ago. I have the same problem with "Albert Nobbs" that I had with "Carnage". "Albert Nobbs" feels fake, stagy and there is just no depth or juice to the movie. So what you are left with is the wonderful performaces and Glenn Close actually doesn't give the best performance in the movie.

Glenn Close is very good here but I felt too much pulling back in her approach to the character sometimes. She does a solid job but I have seen this type of character played stronger. I do like her subtle approach but I thought Mia Warsikowska is the under rated performance here and the best. The very talented actress from "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Kids Are All Right" steals the movie away fom everyone with a strong, charming and natural performance of grace and humor. Also Janet McTeer is great as Hubert Page who is another woman pretending to be a man. Mcteer is playing the same type of role but I think she is better than Close. I hate to say this but I don't think Glenn Close deserved her Oscar nomination.

"Albert Nobbs" is just too safe and pretty and even the financial woes of the period don't come through strong enough. It is for an older movie going audience and before I am branded an ageist I mean it is for older audiences who only see a couple of movies a year. I wanted a stronger love story and a stronger look at the repression of women in that time. The weak subplots, the movie's listlessness and weaker charcters just get in the way. "Albert Nobbs" means well but just doesn't make a strong enough impression on me.

P.S. For better movies than "Albert Nobbs" that deal with some of the same issues check out "Norma Rae", John Lithgow wonderful in "World According to Garp", "Victor/Victoria" and of course "Tootsie".