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UCFC Movie Reviews Ever After Year: 1998 Director: Andy Tennant Sword Master: Graeme Crowther Starring: Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Houston, Dougray Scott, Jeanne Moreau Review by V. Bjerreskov (01 02 23) Sometimes I can really, really be a girl. I'm a sucker for a good romance, as long as it isn't merely a bodice ripper. But I like to think I have better reasons for liking this movie. The story of Ever After is Cinderella with a twist. There's no Fairy Godmother, magic pumpkins and mice, no prince dropping everything to wander around his kingdom with a glass slipper in his hands. The writers have taken the fairy tale and asked themselves, "Now, how can we make this happen in a historical context, without the magic?" They pull it off fairly well. I'm sure there were tomboys back in the 16th century, and I'm sure there were also disillusioned members of the nobility. There were also brilliant men (come on, people, it was the Renaissance! There were brilliant men on every street corner!) whose faculties may have seemed magical to those around them. I'm not entirely sure about the legality of the King's edict to his son, nor about the prevalance of eligible maidens in the immediate vicinity of the royal residence, nor about the apparent brazenness of the gypsies. But I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the story. The acting was for the most part as good as I've seen it in a long time. Anjelica Houston was wonderfully cast as the "Wicked Step Mother;" like my sister says, she's got the eyebrows for it. Drew Barrymore played the wholesome sweet girl role to perfection, though some of her line deliveries were a bit off, and left me wondering why the director didn't keep trying for a better take. I had the same feeling from some of Dougray Scott's lines as well, but on the whole he did a good job. The incidental characters like da Vinci and the messenger were wonderful to watch. As for the fencing, there really was only one scene, between the Prince and one of the gypsies. I was pleased to see the use of an offhand weapon (a dagger for both parties), and the weapons were very good reproductions, but the exchanges consisted mostly of whole-arm sweeps with the rapier and jabs with the dagger. Showy, possibly consistent with the time period, but certainly a whole bout would not consist of those two moves alone, would it? To the uninformed, it probably looks good. The sword master in this film doubled as the stunt coordinator, which could possibly explain the lack of complexity. After all, what else do you do with a sword but swing it around like a feather duster? But, as I said before, I'm a sucker for a good clean romance with a strong heroine and an attractive hero. Maybe if I was male, I wouldn't have enjoyed this film nearly as much. It's definitely more of a girl flick than a fencing flick. Back to Movie Reviews Home  |  About Us   |  About Fencing   |  Links  |  Photo Gallery Image Bank  |  Reviews   |  Fencing Fun  |  Contact Us