B


I'm a little mixed on this one. Notes on a Scandal has several strong points, one of them being its cast which is really good. Judi Dench pulls off the third-best female performance of 2006 (only behind Helen Mirren and Julia Jentsch for Sophie Scholl). The Oscar nomination was completely well-deserved. To be honest, it's probably the best Ive ever seen Judi Dench so far. Her meltdown, the way she delivered her cynical lines...perfect! Bill Nighy in his small supporting role has been quite overlooked in this film as everyone was praising Dench and Blanchett whereas Nighy delivers a great turn here is well.

If anything, I was let down a little by Blanchett. That has partly to do with the fact that I didn't like her character at all. Now in another film scripted by Patrick Marber, Closer, the characters were mostly unlikeable too, yet I "liked" them for that. In this one, Blanchett's character just seemed a bit, uh, irritating to me. That said, she did her job well, sans the breakdown and screaming at the end of the film. That came across as awkward to be honest. Overall performance by the cast was very good, though.

The screenplay by Patrick Marber is another of the film's strengths. Especially Barbara's monologues are wuite witty, dark and cynical. Loved that! Not quite as good as the dialogues in Closer, but great on its own. The score by Phillip Glass was very nice too.

But with all that, there was something in the film that just didn't click with me overall. Maybe it's the aforementioned lack of some "profound message" or whatnot. It also likely has to do something with my dislike of Blanchett's character. Some parts of the plot were a bit unnecessary too, just used to bring the film along. On the whole, a nice drama with great performances, but little in its core.

A-

Yeah, I'm the first page camp of having a lot more fun than I expected. It allowed itself to be bitchy-dramatic and allowed all of the actors to chew up the screen as much as possible, and while in some films that would come off wrong, I totally ate it up here. Watching Dench and Blanchett going at each other, sign me up any day. They prove they're two of the finest actresses in the business at the moment.

It's another one of those movies for a movie sake films... Not everything needs a forced message or deeper level of meaning. Old-school thrill fun.

The score really makes the movie too, I don't think I've seen a film where it literally never stops like it does here.

Glad you loved it. This movie is just so great, and has excellent rewatch value. Still my #5 of 2006.

What a terrific film. It's a 90-minute quickie but it's gripping drama. Not much else to say but I'm not surprised as I remember there was some hoo-ha about it when it came out. Dench, Blanchett, and especially Nighy are exceptional, and I love it whenever I get the chance to see Phil Davis.

It's a good film, performances from Blanchett and Dench are very strong, just the story didn't register with me as very compelling.

B

This movie has a great score and Blanchett is somehow at peak hotness. Judi Dench's character is completely ridiculous though, and the movie really should have leaned into this to become more comedic rather than just sticking with melodramatic Oscar bait.

C

I loved it, watching this for the first time after it has been on my To-Do List for so long. Both Dench and Blanchett are so GOOD in here, replace any of these and this will become a comic movie instead of a serious tones these two actors deliver. I wanted to see more of the family angle because Nighy in a small role is equally good as well. Other than that the movie delivered on my expectations.