Along with others, I must credit the Material Girl's refusal simply to re-run the (very) tired (and exhausting) Edward VIII yarn: the visuals here are stupendous and on their own justify the ticket price. If, say, you have tonight no embassy ball/film premiere to attend, then a trip to your movie theatre to see this will fill the void.
If the genuine theme is misplaced love for celebrity, then Wally's is a (half-satisfying) story of redemption (ie with pregnancy she looks forward finally to a real future of her own); if instead it's about the Duchess as wronged heroine, it's a hearty effort but the sympathy that's generated for the dim but 100% non-evil prince (in this portrayal dotty, kind... and many other things the real David/Edward may not have been) makes the case hard to make.
The world's been long littered with (famous and totally not) adventurers who played with dynamite once too often, and few will feel much for a pair who persisted in material splendour as the Duke and Duchess, for all their troubles, plainly did.
Re. the modern story, I agree that it is overlong, and it slows down the whole thing towards the end, although not, fortunately, nearer the start. Worse, because of the space Wally et al occupy we feel robbed of more Wallis and David (or Bertie and Elizabeth, or even Lillibet and Margaret) time.
Overall light years better than expected, give it a chance, on the biggest screen you can find...
If the genuine theme is misplaced love for celebrity, then Wally's is a (half-satisfying) story of redemption (ie with pregnancy she looks forward finally to a real future of her own); if instead it's about the Duchess as wronged heroine, it's a hearty effort but the sympathy that's generated for the dim but 100% non-evil prince (in this portrayal dotty, kind... and many other things the real David/Edward may not have been) makes the case hard to make.
The world's been long littered with (famous and totally not) adventurers who played with dynamite once too often, and few will feel much for a pair who persisted in material splendour as the Duke and Duchess, for all their troubles, plainly did.
Re. the modern story, I agree that it is overlong, and it slows down the whole thing towards the end, although not, fortunately, nearer the start. Worse, because of the space Wally et al occupy we feel robbed of more Wallis and David (or Bertie and Elizabeth, or even Lillibet and Margaret) time.
Overall light years better than expected, give it a chance, on the biggest screen you can find...