Somewhere over the rainbow, Dorothy read Bridget Jones’s Diary. Renee Zellweger merges her own acting history with the aging Judy Garland, to craft a wonderful, engaging, memorable character. Good thing too, because without Zellweger’s performance, Judy falls apart as quickly as one of her many, many, marriages.
The movie explores Garland’s (Zellweger) last great musical tour: in Britain in 1968. This is a complicated time for Judy: she takes this job in order to keep her ex husband Sydney (Rufus Sewell) from taking full custody of her children (Bella Ramsey included), but this job also keeps her kids away from her. Judy bonds a little with her handler Rosalyn (Jessie Buckley), and a LOT with her latest love interest Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock). Along the way, we get scenes of child star Judy (Darci Shaw) being chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood Star Making Machine.
I guess I didn’t know Renee Zellweger wanted another Oscar this badly. I had totally forgotten that Zellweger had previously won for Cold Mountain. Keeping it real, I had also totally forgotten how good of an actress Zellweger can be. In hindsight, it’s easy to see what drew the actress to play Judy Garland. Garland became our poster child for the child actress: being so warped by fame that she became tabloid fodder and uninsurable: the system sucking away all that talent and promise. To a smaller degree, Zellweger’s arc parallels Garland’s, becoming internet fodder for botched plastic surgeries even though she’d starred in movies like Jerry Maguire and Chicago. So Zellweger knows this character. But being the pro that she is, she also really studies Garlands mannerisms and stage presence to fully occupy the character: the makeup also matches Zellweger’s talent, meaning at all times you never see the actress: you only see Judy Garland.
It’s a good thing Zellweger is so good, because she holds the movie together, as the planet the story revolves around. The rest of the plot threads of Judy amount to wanna be Oscar bait storytelling. The child acting flashbacks grow repetitive, simply showcasing how monstrous the studio executives are; if you thought Justin Bieber had it bad, wait till you see what Garland had to go though. Jessie Buckley and Michael Gambon are having their talents wasted here; you’d think it might be good to make characters out of the people who manage Judy Garland day to day, but the pair mostly sit back and act stoic and supportive. Speaking of underdeveloped characters, Finn Wittrock’s Mickey Deans almost gets there, but there’s only enough screentime for Judy Garland in Judy, so his character arc fails due to lack of screen time. This movie also goes way too out of its way to nearly deify its protagonist. This means any scene where Judy’s flailing needs to be overexplained so its not really her fault, and every scene where she’s amazing is so over the top that you feel your eyes reflexively rolling.
At the end of the day though, Judy does its job, reminding everyone what made Judy Garland so special to everyone. The Trolley Song. Come On, Get Happy. And a song she sang when she was in Kansas. Garland backed up her fame with prodigious singing, dancing, and acting talents, that are still relevant today. Don’t Believe Me? One of the funniest moments from the funniest shows on TV in recent years involves Come On, Get Happy.