I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

"At some point every fairy tale must end." Grace Kelly (Kidman) gave up Hollywood in exchange for marriage to Prince Rainier (Roth). Years later she is unhappy and contemplating a return to acting when Alfred Hitchcock offers her a great role. While she is thinking about the movie Charles De Gaulle is making moves to invade and take Monoco for the french. She must now decide if she should return to acting to make herself happy, or help her husband and country fight off the inevitable invasion. I knew nothing about the real story of Grace Kelly and what happened after she left Hollywood so I'm not sure how much of this is accurate so I can't speak to that. Much like the Diana movie with Naomi Watts the movie is good but nothing amazing and not one of the best biopics ever made. The best part of the film is Kidman's performance. The most interesting part to me was the historical events portrayed in this. The french planning an invasion and what Monoco did to try and prevent it. Being a history buff I really liked that aspect and as for the rest of the movie, I thought it was good but not really anything to watch more than once. Overall, a very OK movie with a great performance by Kidman. I give it a B.

Usually, when I watch a film, when it is clearly not my cup of tea, I switch off. The only reason this film gets a three out of ten rating is because, it truly is, mesmerizingly awful. You won't be able to look away, because: 1. There are some seriously good actors here, Tim Roth and Derek Jacobi, Geraldine Summerville, Robert Lyndsay and Nicole Kidman. So watching them all doing their best as it all goes from bad to worse is like watching a car crash. It must have looked so much more compelling in the script yes? 2. The half hearted attempt to make the film as a homage to films that Grace Kelly starred in. (See the nod and the wink when Nicole's Grace drives down the hill - 'To Catch a Thief') There is also the film stock used which is also reminiscent at particular moments of 1950s films. Also, the over wrought music score.3. By the final penultimate scene when the character 'Grace' (sorry, but it just seems so rude to refer to this creation as Grace Kelly) makes a frankly mawkish and very average speech......you will be dumbstruck.......clearly, we, as the audience, are being poked and nudged to 'feel' great emotion over this moment, as if 'Grace' is making a speech on a par with Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech! Oh dear oh dear.4. The entire narrative premise is dodgy - no matter how the script tries to hide it, this is basically a tale of a very wealthy principality, a tax haven no less, 'fighting the evil Republic' so they can maintain that position.It is one of those films where you know you are supposed to be cheer leading for the main character, but it all comes across - to me anyway - as extremely forced. Having watched a few documentaries over the years about Grace Kelly, she sounds like a complex, down to earth woman, not the wispy character we see here.Make your own mind up ladies and gentlemen, do give it a go, because as I say, it is mesmerizing, just not in the way the film makers hoped.

A fairy tale with Charles de Gaulle as the Big Bad Wolf. By 1962, France's war in Algeria was getting expensive. De Gaulle's solution was to bully Monaco into imposing income taxes and give that tax money to France. He was angry that French businesses were relocating to no-income-tax Monaco. The opening says inspired by real events. The part about the dispute between France and Monaco really happened; however, the war in Algeria ended before events in the movie culminated. Apparently the Grimaldis were unhappy about the movie. It's a Weinstein movie and was not released in theaters. I saw it on Netflix. Nicole Kidman plays Princess Grace. The movie is longer than the story, some scenes come off as contrived, but it's a nice story and a nice movie. Not many of those around these days.

As this year's Cannes Film Festival adjourns its two-week celebration of new crops in the international film industry, the United States mainstream audience is finally being allotted a chance to see the film that opened the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, "Grace of Monaco." Though originally intended for a theatrical release, "Grace of Monaco" was broadcasted on television instead of a appearing in movie theaters. It aired on the Lifetime channel on Memorial Day and May 30. "Grace of Monaco" is now available to stream on Netflix as well.Nicole Kidman illuminates every frame of "Grace of Monaco" as Grace Kelly, the actress who became known for starring in Alfred Hitchcock films in the 1950s. Kelly married Prince Rainier III (portrayed in the film by Tim Roth), the monarch who ruled the sovereign nation of Monaco. After marrying him, she ended her successful film career to assume her most challenging role yet, the princess of Monaco. "Grace of Monaco" uses this crucial time in Kelly's life to tell a story about her crisis of confidence and identity. The film blends the drier facts with colorful fiction in attempts to give the audience an opportunity to explore Kelly's inner struggle surrounding her marriage and future career.Set in 1961, Prince Rainier III is engaged in a hostile political dispute with France's president, Charles de Gaulle, about his imposing of taxes on Monaco, while Alfred Hitchcock offers Grace the lead role in his next project, "Marnie." Grace has a desire to return to the film business, especially seeing the role of Marnie as something only a foolish actress would pass up. The film develops Grace's decision to pursue the film, or stay by her husband's side at the throne and aid Monaco through humanitarian efforts.Kidman is such an accomplished thespian; she deserves her place as one of the top actresses in the film industry. And with opportunities for female actors decreasing every day, Kidman seems starved to leave her next mark on Hollywood's acting landscape. Her hunger for a great role is seen in her emotive portrayal of Grace, a character that was tailor-made for the actress playing her to prosper. In 2002, Kidman rendered author Virginia Woolf in "The Hours" and it won her an Academy Award. Like that performance, she does not imitate the real-life woman but forms her own version of the character in this fictional retelling of a real-life situation.I had the privilege of reading the script for "Grace of Monaco" over a year before seeing it, and imagined it had the possibility to get under Grace Kelly's skin the way "My Week with Marilyn" calculated Marilyn Monroe's deeper feelings about being a celebrity. The film was expected to be a hit for Kidman, enough so to earn her a second Academy Award. But the high expectations of many were met with a dismal reaction from fastidious critics at Cannes, one of the most prestigious film events of the year.Instead of being seen on the big screen, "Grace of Monaco" now has the jurisdiction of Lifetime television. Though the exhibition change may make you cautious about devoting two hours of your time to the movie, you may find the finished product to overcome some of the rotten buzz surrounding it. The film undeniably has some vapid shortcomings that needed ironed out—the middle of the film loses its grasp on the narrative focus and many viewers may find is French director Olivier Dahan's artsy approach to be disorienting for this more conventional story. But the truth is, emerging to the general public on broadcast television is a more appropriate fit for the tone of "Grace of Monaco."Premiering to America through a more accessible medium could open up more possibilities than the original hesitation first imposed from those who saw it at Cannes last year. Television has emerged as adult territory and the cinema as more of a teenage boy's playground full of superheroes flying through the air and explosions detonating. Moving to a television broadcast allows the people "Grace of Monaco" was made for, adults, to watch it (for free). When has this opportunity ever presented itself before: Nicole Kidman playing Grace Kelly in a film that is dosed in dazzling splendor. It may be the only time a movie on Lifetime will ever look this aesthetically ravishing. You could mute the television and just stare for days at golden photography, marvelous costumes, and magnificent sets.* * .5 / * * * *Grade: C+