Helena Bonham Carter
Dominic West

William Ivory

TV Movie
2013
Biography, Drama
BBC America
TV-NR

“Burton and Taylor” finds its groove about 30 minutes in. But there’s no magic here. The cast is solid, but the film seems to lack a spark. Maybe a slight quickening of pace would change things. I just didn’t care about what was going on. Plus, while Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter know how to act, the material doesn’t give them many interesting things to do.

It’s a competent TV film, though. And the stage scenes have some energy, possibly due to the audience interaction. Why can’t the whole film feel like that?

Verdict: Pretty Good

About: (Source: B&T)

BBC America presents ‘Burton and Taylor,’ starring Dominic West (‘The Hour,’ ‘The Wire’) and Helena Bonham Carter (‘Les Miserables,’ ‘The King’s Speech’), as Hollywood’s most famously volatile on-again, off-again lovers, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.  This is the story of their ill-fated reunion, on and off stage.

The drama follows their private and public relationship played out against their ill-fated appearance in a 1983 revival of Noel Coward’s stage play ‘Private Lives.’