.JPG)
NFL Kickoff concert
2008 VMA nominations
Celebrity Watch photos
Blogs & Message Boards More...
Ludwig at Large
Learnin' to love Chad again
Can Cincinnati Bengals fans learn to love Chad Johnson again?
'Nanny McPhee': If only Mary had popped in
Palm Beach Post
Hiding behind lots of face putty, a couple of disgusting warts, a bulbous nose, a gleaming buck tooth and a fat suit is actress-screenwriter Emma Thompson, who has gotten herself mixed up in a trying-too-hard children's fable about a magical governess, Nanny McPhee.
Universal Pictures
C+ The verdict: Mary Poppins has nothing to worry about from this magical governess movie that tries way too hard to be charming. Director: Kirk Jones On the web |
||
Desperate to teach tots lessons in civil behavior, this film gives itself the challenge of the seven naughty children of widower mortician Mr. Brown (Colin Firth), who have conspired to chase away 17 previous nannies. Enter the unflappable Ms. McPhee, whose tough-love child-rearing approach has little to do with a spoonful of sugar and all to do with reverse psychology and her bewitching, spark-spewing walking stick.
Based on Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda kid's book series, one can see how the material might have had potential, if the cast were not pressing so much for laughs and if director Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine) had toned down the comedy and the soundtrack a few notches.
Still, the tots are aptly mischievous and adorable, and Thompson eventually emerges as lovely as ever from under her makeup.
Such stage pals as Derek Jacobi and Imelda Staunton seem to be having fun cavorting about, and, for reasons that remain unclear, this is the movie that Angela Lansbury chose to make her return to the screen, playing Brown's disapproving mother-in-law.
At least these classically trained actors get to get all down and dirty in a climactic food fight.
