Lifetime was at it again on June 29, premiering their latest based-on-real-life movie with the tragic story of the troubled star, Anna Nicole Smith. The source material was high drama to begin with — so did the TV flick live up to the real story?
Say what you want about Lifetime, but they found their groove and they’re sticking to it. Anna Nicole, which premiered on June 29, is just the most recent installment of the camp-y, overly dramatic made-for-TV movies that Lifetime does so well. We at HollywoodLife.com called Lifetime’s story of Anna Nicole Smith “crazy, wild fun” and a “roller coaster ride of drugs, alcohol, and tragedy,” but did the rest of the critics like it as much as we did?
‘Anna Nicole’ Reviews
Variety
Anna Nicole isn't really about anything in the conventional sense, but still manages to be as hard to turn away from and vaguely sleazy as its namesake, which should suit Lifetime's purposes just fine. If nothing else, the movie appears destined to win some kind of award for most convincing prosthetic cleavage, allowing Agnes Bruckner to play the Playboy and Guess jeans model in her pre- and "build-on" breast stages, flanked by a perfectly cast Martin Landau and Adam Goldberg as the unlikely men in her life. As guilty pleasures go, this one certainly doesn't lack for moments at which to hoot.
New York Post
On Saturday night, Lifetime blows out the doors with Anna Nicole, a true-life movie so good, so well-written and yet sleazy enough to satisfy even the cheesiest viewers among us.
The Hollywood Reporter
It was in 2007 that Anna Nicole Smith, aka Vickie Lynn Hogan, the small-town Texas girl who grew up to embody one of the most spectacularly unfortunate public meltdowns of modern Hollywood, died from a cocktail of prescription drugs at the age of 39. That rags-to-riches story is an old Hollywood fable continuously reflected in a constant rotation of bright young things. But Anna Nicole manages to breathe new life into the tale of yet another young woman with a misplaced Marilyn Monroe obsession that turns into a curse.
Boston Globe
The movie, which premieres on Saturday at 8, has nothing to offer. It's storytelling at its most shallow and unsatisfying. Written by John Rice and Joe Batteer and directed by Mary Harron, Anna Nicole barely conveys the basic facts of Smith's life, never mind any bigger ideas about her private terrors and our cultural demons. Bruckner is fine as Smith, and her prosthetic breastplate is quite impressive; but the script gives her nothing of substance or with resonance.
So besides one scathing review, everyone seems to be on board with us! We hope you set your DVRs to record Anna Nicole or that you can catch a rerun, because it’s definitely worth a viewing.
HollywoodLifers, did you see Anna Nicole? What did you think? Let us know!
WATCH: ‘Anna Nicole’ Movie Trailer
– Andrew Gruttadaro
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