Movie · 2012 · Comedy, Drama, History · 1h 34m · R · English
Curator score: 1.0/10 (12.9K ratings)
The President. The First Lady. The King. The Queen. The Mother. The Mistress...One weekend would unite two great nations...After cocktails of course.
Overview
The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.
Ratings
Curator score: 1.0/10
IMDb: 5.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 38%
Metacritic: 55
TMDB: 5.3/10
Director
Roger Michell
Production
Free Range Films, Daybreak Pictures, Film4 Productions, Focus Features
Cast
Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Samuel West, Olivia Colman, Olivia Williams, Elizabeth Marvel, Elizabeth Wilson, Martin McDougall, Andrew Havill, Eleanor Bron, Nancy Baldwin, Kumiko Konishi, Blake Ritson, Morgan Deare, Kevin Hudson
Curator Review
Verdict
A mild, polished historical dramedy with a strong central performance from Bill Murray, but it never fully turns its premise into a compelling story. The film is more interesting as a mood piece about power, privacy, and public image than as a satisfying romance or political drama.
Best for
Viewers who enjoy restrained period pieces
Fans of Bill Murray playing against type
Audiences interested in British royal history and FDR-era politics
People who like light-touch, conversational historical dramas
Skip if
You want a sharp, propulsive political drama
You need the romance to feel emotionally convincing
You dislike soft-focus prestige filmmaking
You prefer historical films with bigger stakes and clearer dramatic momentum
Overview
Hyde Park on Hudson has an appealing setup: FDR at home, the British royals visiting, and a private relationship that complicates the public myth. Roger Michell keeps the film airy and civilized, and Bill Murray gives Roosevelt a sly, lived-in charm that helps the movie feel less like a museum piece than it might have been in lesser hands.
Worth noting
Still, the film is frustratingly modest in the wrong places. It gestures toward intimacy, disability, class, and the performance of leadership, but often settles for anecdote instead of drama. The Margaret Suckley material should give the story emotional tension, yet it remains curiously undercooked.
Bottom line
What lingers is the atmosphere: drawing rooms, country-house etiquette, and the uneasy comedy of diplomacy. If you’re in the mood for a low-key historical portrait with a few sharp observations and a very watchable lead performance, it works. If you want a fully realized character study or a more incisive political film, it comes up short.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Will Sloan (1★) · 201 likes
The inspirational true story of why Roosevelt needed - nay, deserved - a steady stream of no-strings-attached pussy if he was expected to cement The Special Relationship and, in a roundabout way, defeat Hitler. The main character arc is Laura Linney learning to accept and love her place as FDR's third or fourth favourite sidepiece, and the biggest source of tension is whether or not King George VI will eat a hot dog. Awful. One of the worst pieces of Oscar-bait ever made.
Rob Patrick (1★) · 82 likes
This screenplay needs to be rewritten by a fire.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3★) · 70 likes
Action! - The March of the (3) Rogers: Sweep That Cam, Michell Boi!
Based on the memoirs and writings of Margaret Suckley, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's distant cousin, childhood friend, and confidante, the film depicts the less inspiring and more human side of what is largely regarded as one of America's greatest presidents, all set against the context of a visit by King George VI and his daughter, then Princess Elizabeth.
First of all, one might contend that the performances… more
Sam C. Mac · 67 likes
What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs?… more What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs? What if we run out of hot dogs?… more
Travis Lytle (3★) · 22 likes
Starring Bill Murray as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Roger Michell's "Hyde Park on Hudson" is a light-toned, events-based drama that covers a lot of thematic ground. The story, observing a weekend at the President's retreat during which he hosts the King and Queen of England, deals with allegiances, physical struggles, secrets, decorum, and presenting ideas, reputations, and images to the world at large. While the narrative is better at addressing its broad-strokes themes than more minute character beats, it is… more Starring Bill Murray as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Roger Michell's "Hyde Park on Hudson" is a light-toned, events-based drama that covers a lot of thematic ground. The story, observing a weekend at the President's retreat during which he hosts the King and Queen of England, deals with allegiances, physical struggles, secrets, decorum, and presenting ideas, reputations, and images to the world at large. While the narrative is better at addressing its broad-strokes themes than more minute character beats, it is… more