"May December"

Let's be clear -- the popularity of this film has less to do with the quality of the film and more to do with the sensational nature of the tale and the big-name actors attached to the project.  That being said, it comes off like a mash-up of "Twin Peaks" and any given Lifetime thriller.  Complete with a thundering score which imposes.  It's tension without tension.  Natalie Portman has been getting attention for her creepy performance but it left me a little cold.  Lots of lingering stares, whispy and detached conversation.  And yes, the character goes exactly where I knew she would right from the beginning.  I think the creators of the film missed the point.  The weird actor isn't the issue.  The woman who slept with a 13 year-old boy is the problem.  The emphasis is just wrong.  And the film is a ~lot~ like the Mary Kay Letourneau story ... but, as they emphasize, not the Mary Kay Letourneau story.  Which is just distracting.  I'll give props to the film style, which is good, and to Julianne Moore, who is playing the truly conflicted, damaged, complicated character.  Natalie Portman's character is simply the reflection.