Philomena

Achieves nothing remarkable other than Dench getting her kicks from watching Big Momma's House on pay-per-view. And I probably would've bumped up my score if she had bothered to share her thoughts about it.

TV Movie of the Week type stuff, with above average acting. It seemed rather calculated, and the humor wasn't great. So it failed to win me over.

A quiet, modest and mildly amusing drama with solid if unremarkable performances. This is just about as middle-of-the-road as you can get, and it doesn't have anything particularly interesting to say, but it's a moving little story and it passes the time.

Frears' solid direction, Dench's wonderful acting, and a very engaging story make this a very enjoyable film. Not really sure why this is getting so much awards attention, but what are you gonna do?

"human interest stories are a euphemism for stories about weak-minded, ignorant people". well, this obviously made him look like a douche. however, if your story about human toil and triumph is interesting or unique, people probably won't denigrate it as human interest. and the man is right: the acts here are unforgivable, as is the sap shit about holding hands in the face of evil. but this inoffensive oscar fluff does manage to emote once or twice through its layers of schmaltz.