Fridae

Emily Blunt is a beautiful and talented actress who first turned on lesbians when she played a mischievous minx in the lesbian drama, My Summer of Love. Subsequently, she tickled gay men with her sharp comic performance as the fashionista in The Devil Wears Prada.

In real life, Emily is said to be so charming that even her co-stars are smitten. The usually reserved Meryl Streep raves about Emily’s comic talents, while Kevin Zegers (Transamerica) admits to having a huge crush after working opposite her in The Jane Austen Book Club.

So far, Em’s been a gem. But in The Young Victoria she is absolutely … dull. One may suspect the heavy costumes and the tight corsets, but we think it’s the simple fact that she has to play the Queen. After all, you can’t mess around with the queen’s character too much.

So we get Em not quite being Em in the role of young Victoria who, at the tender age of 18, is crowned the Queen of England. Emily is convincing but constrained playing the young woman forced to make decisions on matters of the state, even though she (understandably) prefers matters of the heart. As the queen falls in love with her German cousin Prince Albert (Rupert Friend), their romance is true, tender and terrifically dull.

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee (C.R.A.Z.Y.) and written by Julian Fellowe (Gosford Park), Young Victoria is just too respectful to be interesting. They should have rung up the REAL queen of England, Elton for advice first.