Anna and the King (1999)

ANNA AND THE KING is splendid...   for about an hour-and-a-half.  
Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-Fat are terrific together; the produc-
tion design is ornate as all get-out; and there's exasperation
to spare on *both* the British and Siamese sides.  (That, plus
the curious sight of a Siam kid's choir crooning "Bicycle Built
For Two.")  Too bad the 2:20 film has an extra *hour* of padding,
involving rebels, traitors, Burmese death squads, and, in the
season's single least appealing sequence, the public execution
of the King's newest wife.  Oy.  Who needs such serious stuff in
a story that's *already* plenty serious?  I gave up somewhere in
the second hour and left.  You tell me how it turned out, if you
please... 

Grade: W/O

Copyright 1999 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies as MOVIE HELL: Red and Green Briefs

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