The main problem of this movie is that it did not live up to its title. Mary Boleyn is the other Boleyn girl but somehow, Anne came out as the star of the show. So, should it be called as The Other Other Boleyn Girl? The point of it being a story about the other Boleyn girl is that you should have followed the story through her point of view. It should have explored her private life and have Anne and Henry as mere spectators. Portman did well, alright, but what she portrayed wasn’t the Anne in Gregory’s novel. Mary as well. I know that it’s not exactly about the extravagant lifestyle of The Tudors but they made it so dramatic that it came out much like an underdeveloped soap-opera. They were so engrossed with creating a conflict between the sisters that they’ve placed so many inaccuracies and complete fabrications that bothered me. Almost two decades were compressed into a two hour movie with no indication as to how fast the events were unfolding. I understand that there will be deviations from the book but that rape scene sent out a wrong, distorted message about Henry and Anne. They could have at least string the scenes together with more fluidity.

The costume and the set production are to be applauded but do they really need to have the sisters wear matching patterns? The screenplay wasn’t so bad. In fact, I thought that their dialogues were more engaging than the novel.

You cannot compare Natalie Portman to Scarlett Johansson in this movie, because there’s a clear winner between the two. I might be unfair for she’s my girl crush. At first, I thought that they might have made a mistake. Clearly, Portman is such a lovely girl (gentle like Mary Boleyn) to play a character like Anne Boleyn. Johansson, I knew, could do it more believably. Then, when Portman came back from her supposed exile from France, I realized that it was just right for her. I haven’t seen her perform like this since “Closer”.

Apart from Portman, I thought the powerful uproar/plea from my beloved character of all was one of the the very few highlights of the movie. Ana Torent, who played Queen Katherine of Aragon, came out for about 15 minutes and nailed the character. She’s the one true thing in the movie. It wasn’t pity that will draw you to her. I never pitied her.

They made another mistake when they gave the role of Henry to Eric Bana. Again, favoritism might come into play but he is not as fierce as Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I thought Bana was flat. The range of his emotions wasn’t as strong as that of the Meyers.

Let me just watch a new episode of “The Tudors”. I might just feel a little better.