Academy Award winner Kate Winslet stars in “Lee” as photojournalist Lee Miller, who covered WWII, primarily for Vogue. There’s some occasional humanity to Winslet’s performance. Andy Samberg, in a rare dramatic role, is very good as fellow photojournalist David Scherman. I could see Samberg (best known for “Saturday Night Live”, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and a bunch of voiceover roles in animated comedies) continue to go down more of a dramatic acting path over the next several years.
But there are a lot of aspects of “Lee” that bugged me. The film shouldn’t look as glossy, sharp and refined as it does, if it’s supposed to be a heavy, gritty, war picture. The story structure is imperfect. There’s definitely a slow start, featuring stiff performances from Alexander Skarsgaard and (the usually quite good) Marion Cotillard. And the music feels a little off.
The most compelling section is towards the end, involving Lee and David discovering The Holocaust, the tragedy of it all, and their time at a specific location. I wish director Ellen Kuras expanded this portion and eliminated a bunch of insignificant chit-chat, especially early on.
There’s also a “twist” with moments to go. I’m not a big fan of it. It sort of makes sense but isn’t as powerful as Kuras, Winslet and the rest of the filmmakers intended. And that can also be said for the entire movie.
LCJ GRADE: C-
Running Time: 116 min.