Marie Antoinette MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 Content: -2

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Judy Davis, Rip Torn, Asia Argento, Danny Huston, Rose Byrne. Historical drama. Written & directed by Sofia Coppola.

FILM SYNOPSIS: In 1767 a nave Austrian princess is thrown into the scandal-ridden world of the French aristocracy, when she is betrothed to King Louis XVI. But nothing goes well, and as the years pass she becomes part of a corrupt and self-indulgent leadership.

PREVIEW REVIEW: A few years ago, there was an updated, somewhat modernized version of Romeo and Juliet, with contemporary songs and setting. Some found the facelift disconcerting, while young people ate it up. Here writer/director Sophia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation) incorporates anachronistic music and infuses a kind of contemporary I am woman, hear me roar sensibility to the proceedings. Its a courageous if somewhat different tact that got in the way of the period story (theres actually a song by a black artist named Bow Wow).

Main problem: In an effort to portray the original Material Girls boredom, the filmmaker presents the characters tedium in a way that begins to numb the viewer even more than Queen Marie.

That said, it is a sincere effort, with respectable performances and outstanding set and costume design (shot in the actual palace). The director continues with a self-finding theme noted in her previous cinematic ventures. And you know, Bow Wow is not so bad. Personally, I would have preferred the ring-a-ding stylings of Frank Sinatra. But maybe his music will show up in a redo of Joan of Arc.

Preview Reviewer: Phil Boatwright
Distributor: Sony Pictures/Columbia