Powerful

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland co-wrote and co-directed this exceedingly thin dramatization of the last two years of Errol Flynn's life, from 1957 to 1959. Flynn, notorious ladies' man and faded matinée idol, picks up a pretty chorus girl on the movie lot under the pretense that she audition for him privately--unaware that she is just 15. The girl's mother is skeptical of their ensuing relationship, but eventually consents under the promise that Flynn use his connections to help further her daughter's show business career. As the underage Beverly Aadland, baby-faced Dakota Fanning doesn't have the knowing sexuality needed for the role, but Kevin Kline as Flynn is marvelous. Though essentially too old to play Flynn, who died at the age of 50, Kline nevertheless jumps into the part with verve; he has Flynn's gentlemanly cadence down right and he's in terrific shape. Susan Sarandon as Beverly's mother (and the twosome's 'chaperone' in public) is also fine, though she doesn't have much to work with. At 90 minutes, the film feels lengthy, with a colorless epilogue after Flynn has died and a final coda which isn't as heart-rending as the filmmakers probably intended. ** from ****

I am a big fan of the Golden age of Hollywood and Errol Flynn will always hold a soft spot in my heart. This tells the story of how the aging and ill Flynn met his last wife. She was a mere 15 years old – one Beverley Aadland (Dakota Fanning). This was a spirited girl who was being driven to be an actress by her alcoholic mothers own ambitions. This is Florence Aadland played brilliantly by Susan Sarandon.From what I know of this part of Flynn's life the film is fairly faithful to the facts. Kevin Kline as the ageing Lothario is actually excellent – he plays the part with enough of the rogue to be believable but with the right level of empathy to make the man live. They also recreate some of the last filmatic roles and that part of the film is very enjoyable.The problem is it does not go anywhere too exciting in the 94 minute run time and so has been criticised for that. That said I really enjoyed it. I think you will get a lot more out of this if you are interested in Flynn and enjoy a good performance or two and this certainly has that.

We rented this DVD yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly, thanks to the amazing cast, director, writers, editors, and everyone involved in recreating the awesome 1950s retro "look" of the film (super-cool furniture, cars, wardrobe, make-up, etc.) We love truthful biopics on Hollywood's greatest actors and this film stayed true to the real story, which was absolutely fascinating. The movie moves so quickly that there is not one boring second in the entire film! Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Dakota Fanning should all get Oscars for their amazing performances. (Would love to see Susan Sarandon play Bette Davis in a biopic.) I think the real Beverly Aadland would be proud to see how her story was presented on film (she stayed dedicated and completely in love with Errol Flynn through her whole life). Highly recommend this film to anyone who loves the actors from The Golden Age of Hollywood. "The Last of Robin Hood" deserves way more than 10 stars! We need more amazing films like this!

"In like Flynn," a colloquial expression based on the dissolute life of Errol Flynn.Because Kevin Kline looks like an aging Errol Flynn (he died at 50), it's easy to believe Kline's depiction of the swashbuckling roué from early 20th Century American film in The Last of Robin Hood. Yet, if you want really to experience the bad boy who gave Robin life, read his autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways. Sadly this film is a dull, soporific take on the last years of Flynn.Not that Kevin Kline doesn't have the ability to be roguish like Flynn, it's just that he appears to have been directed to underplay the famous rake, a letdown for those of us hoping to experience the wild wicked one. Instead, this Flynn is pursuing a much younger woman, Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning), with a feeling of entitlement and an ennui-subtle sense of "been there." More interesting than the moribund Flynn is Beverly's mom, Florence (Susan Sarandon) -- a stage mom if there ever was one. Her machinations to get her daughter into films are almost unbelievable. When she realizes her underage daughter is sleeping with Flynn, the other side of her ambition, the love of a mother, rings true as a contrast. However, she allows the affair. To their credit, Fanning and Kline seem to care about each other to the extent that any moral outrage about statutory rape is slightly mitigated.Although the script doesn't allow for the dramatic energy that should accompany his shenanigans, brightening the dim movie is Sarandon's ambitious mom with dorky glasses and fat—she steals whatever show there is to take.So if you want to witness the quiet decline of a glamorous pedophile, the coda to Flynn's checkered life is gently carried out by Kevin Kline as if in hospice. It's the last of an outrageous actor. R.I.P.