Judy - Movie Review

I don't often talk about Judy Garland here. As much as I respect her talent and legacy and even own a couple of her films outside of The Wizard of Oz, I don't consider myself a fan. Yet, when I heard about this film, I knew I wanted to see it and checked listings to see if any theaters nearby would be screening it. None of them listed it, so I decided I should check back and keep an eye open for the Blu-Ray preorder.

Well, I happened to be walking home after seeing a different film and passed by The Moxie Cinema, a local non-profit theater that specializes in the smaller movies that your multiplex typically doesn't carry. There, in the window, was a poster for Judy, so I checked their website and picked a time to go see it.

Biopics have become a popular type of cinema, often following a rise and fall and rise again story arc. Factual accuracy is often secondary to storytelling, with many biopics playing fast and loose with facts. More often, they try to paint a picture of the person in a favorable light, using drama based on the person to help you connect with their story. So, while a biopic might spark someone's interest in a bit of history, don't look to it as a definitive document.

Most of the movie focuses on late in Judy Garland's life when she took on a five week engagement in London, hoping to earn enough money to stabilize her life with her two children, Lorna and Joey Luft. However, the film also flashes back to Judy's time at MGM with a few scenes of her being sternly talked to by Louis B. Mayer on the set of Oz, dealing with her assistant and her relationship with Mickey Rooney.

The movie breaks away from the typical flow of biopics. Rather than depicting Judy's rise to stardom and trying to document much of her life, it only goes for some scenes from her past and dramatizing an engagement that concluded some six months before her death. We see how Judy became addicted to barbiturates to curb her appetite to keep her weight down. Going forward thirty years sees the Judy at the end of the line: she's tired but wants to give so much but gets so little in return. The film shows a wide range of emotions for Judy, from being determined to putting on her best face to getting angry when she deals with a tough crowd.

I'm sure a good amount of the film is fabricated for the sake of dramatic storytelling, such as Judy meeting a gay couple who try to take her to dinner late at night and instead she goes home with them. And when we see the set of The Wizard of Oz, it looks nothing like any scene from the film, even with a woman riding down the yellow brick road on a bicycle. (She looks nothing like Margaret Hamilton, who would certainly not be in costume as Miss Gulch on set as the Kansas scenes were filmed near the end of the production schedule.) I'm fairly certain this was done to allude to the film without violating any trademarks of Warner Brothers.

Renee Zellweger deserves an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the older Judy as she skillfully all but disappears into the role. Similarly, Darci Shaw was excellent as the younger Judy and just about looks exactly like her. The film certainly isn't a particularly happy one, but it does well in evoking emotion. Even yours truly teared up during the finale, which—of course—depicted Judy singing "Over the Rainbow."

It was fairly good timing to release this film during the 80th anniversary of MGM's The Wizard of Oz and fifty years since Judy's death. If you've yet to see it and it's playing near you still, I'd recommend checking it out. If that's not the case, check it out after the home media version releases. There's not a lot of Oz, though Judy's role as Dorothy is mentioned several times, but if you enjoy a good drama, here's one with a connection to Oz.