The Favorite (1989)

I wanted to but couldn't!

hyped garbage

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It's 1784 France. Aimée Dubucq de Rivéry chafes under the strict nuns. She is too independent and her uncle sends her back to the nuns. Pirates capture her ship and she is kidnapped to Algiers ending up in the Ottoman Sultan's harem. She resists being renamed and the scheming by Sineperver (Maud Adams). Sultan Abdul Hamid (F. Murray Abraham) picks her and she refuses. When he offers to not sleep with her, she relents. She becomes his favorite and gives him another heir. Sineperver's son Mustafa is in line to be the next Sultan and she sends an assassin to kill Aimée's son. The Sultan gives her Mahmud to adopt. The Janissaries are restless for war against the Russians but they are outmatched without modern weapons.This is a strange movie. It's half exploitative melodramatic romance. It's also a period piece historical drama. It's reminiscent of a pulpy romance novel. Surprisingly, this has a couple of interesting veteran actors. On the other hand, the lead is a young amateur although she's not the problem. Amber O'Shea definitely has model good looks. She has spunk and that is charismatic enough. The production is lower value but the locations are pretty good. This is cheese but I must admit that it's memorable cheese.

If there has ever been a movie with worse acting, I have not seen it. And I don't think it's possible. The only thing this "film" is good for is if you build some kind of drinking game around it: drunk people might be amused; sober people will be appalled. A high school student with an iPhone and untalented friends could have made a better movie. I watched it because of F. Murray Abraham's name. Which makes me think that F. Murray and I have something in common. We both have experiences in our past which make us cringe, They might, perhaps, have had a good script. It's actually not terrible. In the hands of a qualified director this might -- might -- have been a good film. So I can see how F. Murray or his agent could have read the script and given this a go, without any idea of how bad the other actors might be, or how badly directed the film would be. But I wouldn't have wanted to be that agent when F.Murray saw the finished project!!!

Fascinating story but except for F.Murray Abraham this movie had some of the worst acting I have ever seen. I have seen children in school plays put on more believable performances than Amber O'Shea and James Michael Gregary. With the lacking script and C movie performance (I thought at first it might be a porno film) it took me 3 days to watch. I was so intrigued with the story line I wanted to see the ending but again because of the scrip and acting I could only watch it in small doses. I'm hoping someone will take this wonderful tale and make a real "movie" about it. Probably watchable if you have allot of paperwork or crafts or something to take your mind off the performers and their flat delivery of poor lines.

As Tulip dies, notice how carefully he handles the vase in his hands. This is, undoubtedly, due to the fact that the props were returned to Pier 1 the day after the shooting finished.Intimate Power has yet to meet its full destiny on Mystery Science Theater 3000.