Norma Jean and Marilyn [DVD] NEW

Though I would have to say that some of the "facts" in this movie are anything but, I think it is an interesting study about Marilyn. I had just completed reading Mailer's biography of MM, and there seemed to be a lot of correlation between the two works. . .and Mailer spends a lot of time theorizing on the very private Marilyn. He suggests, before the end, that there were two Marilyns, and this idea is put to use in the movie. Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino play opposite ends of the Marilyn spectrum--Marilyn in her extremes--and between the two of them, you almost strike a balance in the Marilyn we thought we knew. Though I was never impressed with Sorvino's attempt at Marilyn (she doesn't have near the beauty of vibrancy), I do appreciate her effort. . .and though Judd's Norma Jean is too ambitious and cruel (not the fault of the actress, mind you), she recreates MM's cheesecake look brilliantly. I think the world of many of HBO's original movies, and this is a thought-provoking one!