The Notorious Bettie Page

There really isn't a lot to say about this movie because there wasn't a lot there. I had seen a preview for it back when I saw Imagine You and Me and it seemed pretty interesting plus Gretchen Mol and Lili Taylor was a nice bonus.

Really I don't know what was up with this movie. It actually was a rather interesting movie. A nice look at societies views on sex back then. It was interesting how the congressional hearings where all about the bondage and punishment in the movies Bettie and the others were making. The reason it was so interesting is that all the films were just women and it's intersting how back then they didn't give a hoot about the girl-on-girl nature of the movies just the S&M stuff. Or at least that's how it was presented in this particular movie.

One thing I didn't like about this movie was that it was in black and white. I had the same problem with Good Night, and Good Luck. Yes it took place in a time when movies where in black and white but peoples lives weren't so there's no reason for the entire movie to be in black and white. And I really don't like it when people make black and white movies with random periods of color.

Also one of the biggest issues for me was that while I did learn a lot of stuff about Bettie Page there wasn't a lot going on with the character, it didn't give Gretchen much to do. She had a couple of moments that really let her show glimpses of what she is capable of but really all the real work seemed to go to the supporting cast. I just found that very odd and rather disappointing because I was really hoping this would be a movie that would remind Hollywood of just how good Gretchen is. Hopefully it will at least get people to realize that she isn't the diva she some how got made out to be years ago.

Because of the theater I had to see this movie at I had no choice but to pay full price even though it was an afternoon movie. While it wasn't a real waste of money I would have prefered to pay matinee price to see it.