Philomena at it’s core is a road trip movie. It is not your usual road trip movie with a group of people traveling to one place , getting into comical situations and in some sort of a dangerous situation along the way. Philomena is different. It is two older people, going to a few locations without getting into any dangerous situations or experiencing any of the typical road trip hijinks, but it is fun. It is also very heartfelt, has 2 fantastic lead performances and moves along at a good fast pace.
Based on a true story, Philomena is about Philomena Lee (Judi Dench). She had a baby in the early 1950’s in Ireland while in a Catholic orphanage. The Church took her baby away from her. For 50 years, she did not try to find him and then she gets the idea to try. Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is a former writer for the BBC and while at a party meets Philomena’s daughter Kate (Simone Lahbib) who tells Sixsmith about Philomena. He normally does not write human interest stories but decides to and goes to meet Philomena. Martin and Philomena meet and Martin promises to help Philomena find out what happenend to her son.
Philomena is a great movie. The reason it’s great is it’s heartfelt moments balanced with humor, the two fantastic lead performances and it’s fast pace. The tone is fantastic and balances it’s humor and heartfelt emotion scenes perfectly. Throought the movie, there is humor but it’s not where it would feel uneccessary. The humor is more in the beginning while the heartfelt moments and scenes are more twoards the latter half and when they hit, they really work. They are very emotional and are some of the best overall moments of the movie including one montage near the end that is a phenonemal scene.
The perfect tone also works because of the performances. The two leads bounce off of each other and make a fantastic duo. There is a real sense that they are 2 different people in the beginning but are changing with each other. Another great thing is their chemistry in several comedy scenes. Overall, Philomena is a great movie with fantastic lead performances, a perfect balance of humor and heart and is one of the best movies of the year.
Philomena is rated PG-13 on appeal for some strong language, thematic elements and sexual references. I give Philomena a heartening A-.
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