November, 1924: William Randolph Hearst (Herrmann) and his actress lover Marion Davies (Dunst) set sail aboard his private yacht, hosting a small
group that includes
Charlie Chaplin (Izzard), film pioneer Thomas Ince (Elwes), gossip columnist Louella Parsons (Tilly) and novelist Elinor Glyn (Lumley). Although witty repartée and double entendre are the order of the day, deceit and deception are also on the menu - resulting in a murder.
Based on the play by award-winning writer Steven Peros.
It brought to mind "Gosford Park" but much smaller in scale - in every way - smaller cast, smaller intensity, smaller effort, smaller quality. An interpretation of a "true" story (this was no documentary), it was somewhat interesting at points but lagged plot-wise in others, causing some periods of borderline boredom to the viewer. I drifted to my grocery shopping needs a couple times... Jennifer Tilly was a standout as desperatly annoying, seemingly dim-witted Loella Parsons. Always there`s more than meets the eye.