Movie Review - Albert Nobbs

Albert Nobbs (2011)

Starring Glenn Close, Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson, and Janet McTeer

Directed by Rodrigo García

Albert Nobbs is, quite possibly, the most boring film released in 2011 -- and in the year of J. Edgar, The Iron Lady, and Anonymous that's saying something.  However, unlike J. Edgar which had a decent performance from Leonardo DiCaprio, The Iron Lady which had a worthy Oscar-winning turn from Meryl Streep, and Anonymous which had some interesting visuals, Albert Nobbs has absolutely nothing going for it.  Nothing at all.  This "dream" project of Glenn Close is dreadfully monotonous and torturous to sit through and without even a captivating performance with which to breathe life into it, Albert Nobbs is a period piece that really shouldn't even exist.

Sorry, but the raves that came in for Glenn Close's Oscar-nominated performance as the title character -- a woman who has dressed as a man for decades in order to keep a job -- were completely unwarranted.  As Albert Nobbs, Close is emotionally one-note, appearing "stoic" throughout and very little else in terms of notable characteristics.  As Albert struggles to find a woman to spend his life with, training his eye on young co-worker Helen (Mia Wasikowska), I found my eyes wandering around the close quarters of my plane home from London.  Not even the Oscar-nominated turn from Janet McTeer as a fellow woman who lives her life as a man (with a heckuva lot more charisma than Close) can do anything to save this film from simply floundering.

With awkward direction and a horrible subplot involving Wasikowska's character and her relationship with a conniving young handyman (Aaron Johnson), this is a movie in search of itself.  Seemingly as much time is spent on the young lovers storyline which goes nowhere as is spent on Albert's -- and neither of them are worth paying any amount of attention to.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-