Sjhm Review of Queen America

Queen America (2018–2019)

Poignant, dark, funny in all the right places, ticks all my boxes.

[10/10 · 26 November 2018]

A classical tale of ambition with a powerful modern setting. The mystifying world of the Beauty Pageant, where everything is about scoring points, and there are many scores to be settled. Catherine Zeta-Jones has never been better. As Vicki Ellis she prowls through each scene like a tigress, strong, independent, defiant almost, yet vulnerable. A latter day Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford, 1945) or Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis, Now, Voyager 1942), but this is no 1940s noir, absolutely modern this is the fast-paced era of social media, where things go wrong in Vicki's seemingly perfect world. First she must deal with a client who wrecks her own chances, and then takes on a client in which she has very little faith. She is forced to ask for help, while struggling with a family secret that threatens to blow everything out of the water. The writing is crisp, sweet, sour, funny, sad, it packs a lot into each half hour episode, the situations are believable and the dialogue spot on. The cast are wonderful and give it their all, no coasters here, Zeta-Jones is a huge stand out, but as the young hopeful, Belle Shouse is far from overwhelmed by the presence of a well-known star, she gives her sweet, naïve young Miss Claremore just enough acidity to fit right in. Based on what I have seen so far, I would choose to purchase this one to keep forever, and it is rare that I do that. This is one of those series that you instinctively choose for your desert island collection.