Gosford Park - 3 stars out of 10

Gosford Park - 3 stars out of 10

I still cannot understand how this movie was nominated for 7 Academy Awards.  After an hour of slow character development the plot FINALLY begins.  In fact, this movie moves so slow that it took me 3 attempts before I got through it without falling asleep.  I understand that the character development is important in a whodunit film but it was not necessary for an hour and 10 minutes to go by before the murder occured.  Although it only received one Academy Award (out of 7 nominations), I disagree with its victory for best screenplay since Memento's screenplay is absolutely genius.  The highlight of the film is Jeremy Northam's stunningly beautiful singing voice, and even better, Maggie Smith's sarcastic comments about his playing.  I wouldn't watch this film again - I'd rather just listen to Northam's songs on the soundtrack.  Or even better, navigate to you tube and watch the murder sequence (occuring underthe song "What A Duke Should Be") several times, since it is easily the best scene in the film.  I expected to love this film because of it's cast including Mirren, Thomas, Smith, Owen, Phillippe, Northam, Balaban, but this film has very little drive to it and Smith's acting was the only performance that impressed me.