The only reason I give this movie a score higher than 1 is that it made me laugh repeatedly. It was that bad. Production values were down to nil, and boy does it show. Oh, and you know the kind of acting where it's been rehearsed so often as a group that everybody knows what's going to be said next, so that everybody looks at the guy with the next line as soon as the current guy finishes his line? Yeah, that's the kind of movie this is. I absolutely couldn't believe somebody agreed to put it up on the big screen. It was totally the stuff of a high school play, okay, college, but no more. Again, hilarious.
Now, the cast. When I first saw Hadassah (Esther) I thought, sure, pretty face, but completely lacking any hint of an actual Jewish bloodline, as typically there are certain distinguishing features. (Nor does much of anyone else look Persian.) Also much older than the 'girl' of the biblical narrative and, accordingly, a bit paunched. Paunched? Really? The most beautiful virgin in the whole wide kingdom was paunched? I don't think so. Again, hilarious. And I'm still trying to get a handle on why Mordecai had a California-grade tan while almost everyone else was a nice, soft shade of pasty.
Okay, the acting. Stiff. Sometimes vacuous. Often sappy. Invariably affected. Watch this movie just for the exercise in squirming. Simply put, not believable. No, not ever.
Finally, (and, honestly, most importantly), this effort at a story drifted ridiculously far from the biblical one. They announce at the start of the film that the story is missing biblical elements and that it contains non-biblical ones, all in the name of dramatic effect. Really? Read the Book of Esther. It'll only take ten minutes. But despite its brevity it's one of the most inherently dramatic narratives in all of scripture. The idea that someone decided to change it for dramatic effect is absurd. It's also disingenuous. Following the story as it is written would have cost more. Tweaking, condensing and changing the order of events allows for a more concise script and a more abbreviated screenplay. Shame though. Too bad the producers weren't more well connected.
Someday someone will do this story up right. It'll be spectacular.
