Mrs Henderson Presents
Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: December 9, 2005
7.2
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
28
Mixed:
5
Negative:
6
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User Reviews

User scoreBy dateMost helpful
0
BJJ.Sep 24, 2006
After 20 minutes I gave it up. Difficult to understand the Brit accents, even tho I've been to England many times. Story line was going nowhere. In reading the other reviews, perhaps I'm too plebian to enjoy this.
0 of 2 users found this helpful
10
BillA.Feb 5, 2006
When was the last time you saw a movie where the audience spontaneously clapped at the end? After seeing so many bad movies recently, this was a delight. Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins are great together, and many of the lines are superb! After When was the last time you saw a movie where the audience spontaneously clapped at the end? After seeing so many bad movies recently, this was a delight. Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins are great together, and many of the lines are superb! After seeing the movie, we researched the Windmill Theater, and were surprised at the historical accuracy of the story, one with which we were not familiar. A funny and moving movie.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
GreggD.Mar 4, 2006
A pleasant movie that appealed to both my wife and me. R rated but done in such an elegant way, I would allow my 13 year old daughter to view it.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
JaneR.Mar 5, 2006
Wonderful characters and chemistry between the characters. Moving, lovely photography, well scripted. We loved it.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
LadyM.Feb 17, 2007
Splendid and very classy film! Great actors and actresses like Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, but the greatest is absolutely Mrs. Thelma Barlow. I love her accent!
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
NigelP.Jan 4, 2006
Truly superb ! Had me transfixed all the way through. And it wasn't just `cos of the women either !! Brilliant acting but then it would have to be with Dame Judi Dench. Will Young was great as was Bob Hoskins. Wow ! is it me? Or do Truly superb ! Had me transfixed all the way through. And it wasn't just `cos of the women either !! Brilliant acting but then it would have to be with Dame Judi Dench. Will Young was great as was Bob Hoskins. Wow ! is it me? Or do others agree that there appears to be some great films around at the moment?… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
7
MarkB.Feb 25, 2006
The title character is a recently widowed British septugenarian (Judi Dench) who forms a prickly but mutually beneficial partnership with a producer (Bob Hoskins) to run a theatrical vaudeville revue, spicing up both the show and its box The title character is a recently widowed British septugenarian (Judi Dench) who forms a prickly but mutually beneficial partnership with a producer (Bob Hoskins) to run a theatrical vaudeville revue, spicing up both the show and its box office receipts with copious female nudity (apparently permissable onstage at the time as long as the nudes remain PERFECTLY STILL). Then World War II breaks out, the program becomes not only a major hit but a huge morale-booster for the boys in uniform on both sides of the pond, and you can probably guess at least some of the rest. You also don't need a crystal ball to assume before seeing this that it's the latest example of the Brits Doing Naughty Things (But Don't Worry, It's For A Really, Really Good Reason) subgenre of filmmaking, which also includes Calendar Girls, Saving Grace, Waking Ned Devine and its pioneer and greatest example, 1997's wonderfully endearing The Full Monty. Equally predictable is that this, like most of the above-listed films, is snugly but cagily tailored to the same middlebrow audience that recently gave Barry Manilow his first Number One CD since CDs were invented, thus causing normally nonreligious music writers and columnists to write about Armageddon. More genuinely surprising is that Mrs. Henderson Presents is not only the work of edgy director Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things, High Fidelity, The Grifters) but by far his most conventional and sentimental movie to date. All of the above observations sound like complaints but aren't for one simple reason: it all works. Hoskins and Dench (who received a Best Actress Oscar momination that she probably won't win unless the Witherspoon/ Huffman vote splits squarely down the middle) are a comic dream team: their classic love-hate business (and occasionally personal) relationship may be the kind you only see in the movies, but rarely is it this much fun to watch. Lots of period charm and flavor and some hilarious sequences dealing with the introduction of nudity to the production (and the typically squeamish censorial reactions to it) add to the pleasure, and even when the war strikes home and the movie goes all serious and stiff-upper-lip it takes some genuinely unexpected turns, especially in its observations of how men of all nationalities and time periods view and treat women. (I wasn't expecting to draw even a subtle relationship between the Last Good War military audience here and the Vietnam USO show one in Apocalypse Now, but it's there.) Frears's most interesting artistic decision is to represent the London Blitz with file footage during the show and then switch to a realistic depiction when a personal price is paid; this is effective because he's showing the war having a real, irreversible effect on its characters after being more or less an abstract disturbance. My only real complaint (even though it arises from one of the movie's funniest scenes, and is Necessary To The Plot) is that with all the female nudity, the full-frontal image that remains most stubbornly with me is that of BOB HOSKINS! It's gonna take years of electroshock therapy and Russ Meyer movies to clear THAT puppy out of my mind!… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
5
CarolynM.Feb 5, 2006
Dench and Hoskins are wonderful to watch, but the script is pretty lame; why, you ask yourself, was this film made? Even Mrs. Henderson's motive for opening a theatre isn't consistent; she eventually explains that she did it to Dench and Hoskins are wonderful to watch, but the script is pretty lame; why, you ask yourself, was this film made? Even Mrs. Henderson's motive for opening a theatre isn't consistent; she eventually explains that she did it to strike a blow for . . . [the following may spoil the surprise] YOUNG MEN, so they could see NAKED WOMEN before they went off to war??? This is a noble cause? Sorry. It just didn't work.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
SheilaO.May 7, 2006
Dame Judy Dench was wonderful in this film and Bob Hoskins played well with her. I laughed so much and loved the songs and the nudity was tastefully done.This was nostalgic for me because my father often visited the Windmill theatre,we Dame Judy Dench was wonderful in this film and Bob Hoskins played well with her. I laughed so much and loved the songs and the nudity was tastefully done.This was nostalgic for me because my father often visited the Windmill theatre,we should have more films like this.I would like the CD of the songs, Loved Will Young he was cool.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
CarolR.Feb 19, 2007
A most enjoyable, easy to watch British film production ... a combination of emotions and wonderfully acted by Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins and Thelma Barlow.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
PamalaS.Dec 10, 2005
It's such and fun, thoughtful, and beautiful film.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
MichaelB.Dec 7, 2005
A total delight, with a script so exquisitely literate and acting uniformly superb. "Cabaret " meets "Hope and Glory" with "The Full Monty" thrown in!!
0 of 0 users found this helpful
8
BenK.Jan 16, 2006
An odd experience. I was easily the youngest person in the theater. Not that I have anything against old people we were there for different reasons. They were there to see Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, I was there to see nudity. Unfortunately An odd experience. I was easily the youngest person in the theater. Not that I have anything against old people we were there for different reasons. They were there to see Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, I was there to see nudity. Unfortunately the nudity was tastefully done. As for the film it's one of those stiff-upper-lip things which is to say patriotic without being obnoxious but well played.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
mrmijacJan 3, 2006
A class act!
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
JayC.Feb 11, 2006
A pure delight. Laughter and tears and the fun interplay between Mrs. H and her manager. I love WWII backgrounds...down to earth.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
6
JimG.Feb 19, 2006
Enjoyable, if formulaic, vehicle for Dame Judy and Mr. Bob. Casting includes lots of great faces full of character.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
BTS.Feb 7, 2006
Dench is fabulous. Hoskins is wonderful. Guest nearly, but not quite, steals his scenes from Dench. The nude women are lovely to look at. Will Young sings nicely. Musical numbers, Goody Goody and Babies of the Blitz had me bouncing in my Dench is fabulous. Hoskins is wonderful. Guest nearly, but not quite, steals his scenes from Dench. The nude women are lovely to look at. Will Young sings nicely. Musical numbers, Goody Goody and Babies of the Blitz had me bouncing in my seat. Even the opening credits are terrific fun. The precariousness of life lived in a war zone is demonstrated but this last part of the story felt rushed, as if the writer looked at his watch and realized he had only 23 minutes in which to cram 45 minutes of story. Otherwise, it was an altogether funny and touching movie and Judi Dench is fabulous. I can't think of the last time I left a movie theater feeling happy I'd been there.… Expand
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
SheilaE.May 5, 2006
I was captivated from beginning to end mostly by Judi Dench's performance, it is true, but by all the rest of the cast, story and especially the dialogue as well.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
9
richardh.Dec 31, 2005
Hard to rate anything a perfect 10, but this movie is simply delightful. It makes me angry to see the carping complainers criticize such a moving, lovingly put-together film. It radiates humanity.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
10
PatG.Dec 9, 2005
Let the fuddy duddies complain if they must! This is a delightful movie that also manages to be touching at times. Judi Dench can do wrong as far as I'm concerned. Just go and enjoy it.
0 of 0 users found this helpful
5
TyranianApr 12, 2019
Has some decent humour but ultimately this film will test your patience if you're seeking engagement.
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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3
AkashVijayJan 22, 2015
Can one performance save an entire film from mediocrity? Judi Dench does her best but even her talent and flair couldn't rescue this movie from entering my long list of films that left me utterly indifferent.
0 of 0 users found this helpful00
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10
DawdlingPoetNov 20, 2021
This is quite an amusing film - its based on a true story and is quite light hearted, with some really quite humorous moments. The story is quite interesting and the characters are rather animated. I found it to be an easy watch. The musicalThis is quite an amusing film - its based on a true story and is quite light hearted, with some really quite humorous moments. The story is quite interesting and the characters are rather animated. I found it to be an easy watch. The musical numbers are quite catchy and its quite a bright and colourful film in general, with scenes of on stage performances featuring some impressive lighting techniques given the time its set in.

Mrs Henderson herself, aka Laura, comes across very much as a frivollous, well-to-do upper class socialite - someone who perhaps doesn't see the controversy that others clearly do. She's blunt and to the point and this leads to some entertaining arguments between her and the theatre's manager. She seems, in some parts, a bit cold and uncaring but thats shown to not be the case, as she decides to check up on how the acts are being treated.

The second world war is depicted and some news reel fooage is shown during the film, to give the viewer a real feel of how turbulent things were and to bring home the fact of how important it was then that 'the show must go on', as the saying goes, despite attacks above ground. Of course this film is more of a muscial based comedy than a full blown drama, as mentioned and as such, it glosses over things to an extent but it does well at portraying what the theatrical world was like in London at that time. Some might say its a bit tasteless, from a nudity point of view but its argued that the emphasis is very much on making it (ie. the performances) appear artistic, rather than pornographic, by way of the performers barely moving on stage, which I imagine can't be easy.

The music is pretty light and even subtle perhaps - Will Young performs some numbers and features throughout the film. I didn't find myself getting overly distracted, as musicals aren't particularly my 'thing', you could say (along with slasher type horror films and sickly sweet romantic comedies) but the story moves along at a fair pace and the musical scenes, or parts, are equally mixed in with dialogue based scenes and I found it entertaining throughout. There are some slightly political scenes or aspects within it and there is something of a moral message to it - there is some poignant dialogue, as well as the amusing aspects although, as I say, its mostly quite light hearted and a pretty easy watch. You don't have to have your wits about you too much to understand, follow or enjoy this film, which (as far as im concerned) is no bad thing - it highlights the determination of an individual to provide a slightly alternative entertainment during the wartime. You could say it has a very British feel to it, of course it being based on a true British story having a lot to do with it but I liked the sort of grit and determination aspect of it and I feel Dame Judi Dench was particularly well cast in her role.

Yes, I'd recommend this film, as I thought it was quite entertaining - amusing in scenes, with some good musical performances, nice lighting and some poignant moments too. The main characters are quite animated and Mrs. Hendersons rocky 'relationship' with manager Van Damm is particularly well portrayed. With equal entertainment and comedy, this is a pretty good watch. It isn't especially long drawn out at about an hour and forty minute long and it has a good cast, with a nice message (or moral) or two added to it I suppose, so on that basis then I'd say its worth seeing.… Expand
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