It’s one of the wackiest movie rollercoaster stories of the decade. The Grace Kelly biopic “Grace of Monaco”, starring Nicole Kidman as the Academy Award-winning movie star who became royalty when she married Monaco’s Prince Rainier (Tim Roth), was originally supposed to open in November 2013 as a prime Awards Season contender. One of Director Olivier Dahan’s previous works, “La Vie en Rose” (2007), earned Marion Cotillard a Best Actress Oscar. But the studio behind “Grace”, The Weinstein Company, felt the film needed more time to be completed, deciding to push it back to a Spring 2014 release. Interestingly, Vanity Fair magazine still spotlighted Kidman and the movie in their December 2013 issue.
Normally when a film is taken out of Awards Season that’s not a good sign. But that January TWC was able to secure “Grace” as the opening night selection at the Cannes Film Festival, an incredibly prestigious honor. However, the spotlight proved to be rather harsh, as “Grace” was booed by the crowd and reviews posted online were nothing short of disastrous – many describing it as unintentionally funny, campy, and/or just plain awful. Based on that reaction, Harvey Weinstein shelved all plans for a US release.
So when news broke in April that Lifetime was set to air “Grace of Monaco” in May, the entertainment industry was aghast. More critics reviewed (and universally trashed) it. The TV ratings were never announced.
But just when everyone thought this was the last anyone would ever hear of “Grace of Monaco”, the film, shockingly, received a 2015 Emmy nomination for Outstanding TV Movie. I had it on my DVR for months, not sure if I’d ever get around to watching it. But the nomination convinced me that I had to watch it. And this week I did.
And you know what? It’s as bad as advertised. The story is really dull, the editing is rough, the score out of place, loud and distracting, and even though Roger Ashton-Griffiths is only in a few scenes as Alfred Hitchcock, his performance brings down the entire cast. Kidman does sparkle in some appropriate moments, and while her pivotal closing speech is strong, we didn’t need the ultra close-ups of her face.
And yet, I would love to see “Grace of Monaco” win the Emmy on Sunday September 20. Online reaction (which was hysterical when the nomination was announced) would be priceless. I’m expecting host Andy Samberg to make at least one reference to the Princess story turned nightmare in his opening monologue and maybe keep it as a running joke all night.