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The Secret Life
of Bees
Starring: Queen Latifah, Dakota
Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Sophie Okenedo
Directed by: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Produced
by:
Lauren Shuler Donner, Joe Pichirallo, James Lassiter, Will Smith
Written
by: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures |
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Oh what a
pleasure it is to be in the company of four great actresses
during The Secret Life of Bees. Dakota Fanning, Jennifer
Hudson, Sophie Okenedo, and Queen Latifah are all superb in the
film, casting a genuine sense of warmth over the viewer. And
Alicia Keys—who knew she could act? Despite its seasoned line-up
of strong female African-American headliners and the gifted
teenage lead who often upstages them all, however, The Secret
Life of Bees’ Civil Rights-era narrative fails to engage on
the same level that its performances do. There isn’t anything
inherently wrong about the movie’s story of a white girl
(Fanning) and her family’s black maid (Hudson) seeking refuge in
the home of a honey-harvesting group of sisters (Keys, Latifah,
and Okenedo) after a they respectively endure domestic abuse and
racial injustice. But writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood,
adapting from Sue Monk Kidd’s source novel, fails to capture the
level emotional authenticity that the material could’ve lent
itself to. For example, a third-act death that should be
devastating is only mildly-moving because subsequent scenes seem
to thrust the cast into a battle to extract something beyond
surface-sympathy from the script. The Secret Life of Bees
is the last thing you’d expect it to be given its wide-ranging
cast: muted. Yes, it is wonderful to spend time with these fine
actresses, but it’s a shame that Prince-Bythewood has fashioned
such a basic and derivative motion picture out of the
opportunity.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 10.15.2008
Screened on: 10.7.2008 at the
Zanuck Theatre on the Fox Lot in Century City, CA.
The Secret Life of Bees is rated PG-13
and runs 110 minutes.
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