One Night With the King
Year Released: 2006
Directed By: Michael O. Sajbel
Starring: Tiffany Dupont, Luke Goss, John Rhys-Davies, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, John Noble, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, James Callis
(PG, 122 min.)
Despite a title that makes it sound like a tell-all about a one-night stand with Elvis Presley, this movie is actually about the Jewish heroine, Queen Esther (Dupont), who saves her people from extermination through her marriage to the powerful King Xerxes of Persia (Goss). Originally named Hadassah, the orphaned girl adopts the name Esther to hide her Jewish identity when she is one of the many beautiful young women who are siphoned off to the palace as candidates to become the new queen after Xerxes banishes his prior wife for disobeying him. But Xerxes is handsome, and the top eunuch Hagai (Lister) takes a liking to her, so before long the peasant girl has become the first lady of the land. The film has the lavish look of a proper Biblical epic, although the screenplay is based on the novel The Hadassah Covenant by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen. For a change, it's nice to see a religious film in wide release that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, the New Testament, Christian proselytizing, or the apocalypse. It brings back memories of all the young girls in Hebrew school who angled for the role of the beautiful Queen Esther in the annual Purim pageant. The production qualities in this film rendition are definitely better than anything produced in my Hebrew school, even though the audience I saw it with seemed to know nothing about the Jewish custom of the stomping of feet and spinning of graggers every time the evil Hamen's name is spoken. The performances are all solid, although the screenplay frequently bogs down with the complexity of palace intrigues and plots that could have been rendered more consumer-friendly. Despite the possibilities of the first reteaming, Sharif and O'Toole since Lawrence of Arabia, the two men are never onscreen together, and O'Toole appears in only one opening scene despite his prominent billing. Now if only they would sell fresh Hamantaschen at the concession stands.
Marjorie Baumgarten [2006-10-20]
|
|
|
BY THEATER
BY FILM
Delta Farce In this multination offender, Larry the Cable Guy and two friends are mistaken for Army reservists and shipped off to Iraq but wind up in Mexico. - Marjorie Baumgarten
The Ex Zach Braff and Amanda Peet play a married couple who deal with a new child and an old flame. - Marjorie Baumgarten
Georgia Rule Despite the presence of three acting powerhouses – Jane Fonda, Felicity Huffman, and Lindsay Lohan – this movie about three generations of "difficult" women never rings true. - Marjorie Baumgarten
Lucky You This romantic drama is set against a Las Vegas background and stars Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, but it rolls snake eyes all the way. - Josh Rosenblatt
The Other Conquest This amazing-looking Mexican epic is a work of historic fiction by a first-time filmmaker, and focuses on the aftermath of the takeover in 1519 of the Aztec empire by Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortés. - Marjorie Baumgarten
28 Weeks Later This continuing story of a populace that fears infection from a "rage virus," forges ahead with panic-paced sequences of graphic, random violence. - Marc Savlov
Waitress Despite a storyline that involves an unplanned pregnancy, various affairs, spousal abuse, maternal ambivalence, and food-service employment, Waitress is an optimistic comedy about getting past your mistakes and making the best of life. - Marrit Ingman
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
OFFSCREEN LISTINGS
Browse 9186 archived film reviews by:
TITLE
RATING
|