Diana
Starring: Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Douglas Hodge
Directed By: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Reviewed by Danielle Muir

[rating: 2/5]

Naomie Watts. Blonde wig.  Gold Dress. Heart Surgeon. BBC. Break up. Reconcile. Blue Dress. Keynote speech. Landmines. Break Up. Reconcile. Breakup. Dodi. Swimsuit. Car crash.

Diana certainly does a fine job of replicating each significant moment to a tee, but I think the whole thing needs a bit of ‘once more with feeling’.  This is the people’s princess – one of the most revered, cherished and worshiped women in modern times.  God, the inner conflict – the rage, the strength she must have felt.  Surely this is the role of a lifetime.

So why then has the film made the decision to replicate where some raw emotion might have been nice, and lay on thick some ooey gooey romance to hide the fact that Watts and Andrews have zip chemistry?  Seems like a shallow take on a story that could’ve provoked so much more from its audience.

I’d say this story will have novelty value for people of similar age to Diana, who grew up watching those iconic moments first hand.  They’ll get a kick out of seeing those famous moments on the big screen, will enjoy a glimpse behind her relationship with ‘the one that got away’ – heart surgeon Hassnat Khan (who’s played like an A-grade douche), and eat up the spoon-fed drama all the way to the credits.

For the rest of us there’s more than a few faults.  Again, Hassnat and Diana have chemistry issues – each kiss seems extremely awkward, they break up constantly as Hassnat throws fit after fit, and you don’t really understand why they stay together so long considering his disdain for her lifestyle.

Really, Diana just seems like an excuse to fly around the world to numerous locations.  The fact that they already had source material doesn’t mean it was a sure thing.  There’s no excuse for laziness.