Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Keith DeWeese Not sure why it took me so long to view this film (I rarely watch made-for-cable-television films, so that explains that.) I've seen the documentary a number of times and always came away from it wishing I would have had the opportunity to meet the Edies and, particularly, little Edie. I can't explain it, but there's just something so marvelously endearing about her. She should have been a "somebody" other than just being Jackie O.'s cousin.Watching the 1975 Maysles record of the closing days of Grey Gardens always sets me to thinking, perhaps too much, about what I saw play out between my own deceased mother and grandmother. It always takes me a couple of days to shake that film loose.I watched the documentary, again, three days ago. Tonight I watched the film--is there a genre known as augmented documentary? The augmented documentary floored me. In particular, Barrymore's performance is stunning. She IS little Edie! I know the documentary very well, all the "classic" lines; and, Barrymore's delivery of them was like...well, watching little Edie in the documentary. Yet, seeing more of the Beales' past played out in rich detail connected so many dots for me (e.g. the very special gift given to Edith by Krug that figures prominently at the film's end.) At the film's end, I was sorely missing my mother. She was the little Edie in my life; and, she would have loved this film. My grandmother, or big Edie, would have loved it, too. Thankfully, furniture covered with plastic and strict rules about animals in the house (never cats, and only the occasional small dog not allowed in bedrooms) kept the living arrangement tidy; but, the big Edie and little Edie dynamic was all there. So much laughter, so many tears, so much love and so much dislike. This film captured it all for me. Perhaps, to really appreciate it, one needs to have lived it to a certain degree. If one hasn't, I can see where the film might come across less than excellent.9/10 stars from me and only because the film didn't incorporate "The Marble Faun" eating corn with big Edie; and, I missed little Edit remarking on her "revolutionary" dress for the day.

jacklmauro I'd seen the original documentary when it opened, and was strangely drawn to the surreal, tragic lives of those women. This production - astonishingly - honors everything that was real and touching in that relationship. I cannot believe that HBO wouldn't in some way make caricatures out of the Beales, but they do not. This is a lovely, sad, touching film. If there's a discordant note, it's the necessary evil of Tripplehorn's Jackie reaction when she arrives to save the day. It's a thankless role and difficult scene, but even this could've been much worse. That aside - Lange is brilliant and intensely real, and Barrymore...well, I've never been a fan. Until now. This is a performance crafted out of sheer integrity and skill. As richly as HBO deserves derision for its garbage, this warrants an ovation.

Syl Big Edie was right. Nobody has made a film documentary about this mother-daughter eccentric before. Their lives have inspired not only a documentary but a musical stage production on Broadway. Both mother and daughter Beales will live in immortality whether on stage somewhere or being seen in a documentary or this film. Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore are perfect in playing Big Edie and Little Edie. Drew stunned me in her performance as the flamboyant outspoken artistic and maybe misunderstood Little Edie who has big dreams. They live in a dilapidating mansion called Grey Gardens in East Hampton, Long Island, New York which Big Edie calls home and has for over 30 years. She refuses to leave her estate and downsize. Jeanne Tripplehorn's performance of Jackie Onassis is quite downplayed but sensitive. When she says to Edie, I wished it was you to marry a Kennedy. You feel the pain and anguish in her voice. Jackie helps her aunt and cousin in cleaning up the estate once she learns that they could be evicted and homeless. Ken Howard is fine as the husband and father. There is a need to understand them more and to why they remained isolated with their pet raccoons and cats. But Big Edie's right, nobody has made a film about them in 1975 and they have been the subject of discussion. I marveled at how Drew became Little Edie. Big Edie loved to sing at her parties during the summer season in the Hamptons. Their legendary lives will never be forgotten and this film is a tribute to their legacy.

phd_travel This is a well made well cast and well acted biopic on the lives of 2 eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy. Excellent acting - a touching story. Heartbreaking and terrifying. The squalor of the house was horrifying as only a true story can be. The tragedy of their lives and eccentricity shows how wrong choices can affect your life.The acting by Drew is her best. She really deserved her Golden Globe. She looked and acted beautiful when young and realistically eccentric when older. Jessica Lange was excellent too. Both were captivating.A must see.