Bill Murray goes fishing for Oscar in shallow water. In the Spring of 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt (Murray) was the first-ever president to host British royalty on American soil. The weekend shindig was thrown at the title locale, F.D.R.’s home in upstate New York. Chin jutting, cigarette holder pointing northward, and voice lolling in a jaw-stretching drawl than can only be described as Thurston Howell, III-ish, Murray’s Roosevelt is more of a graphite rubbing than it is a completed portrait. What baubles of wisdom are to be gleaned from this shuddersome biopic? That the 32nd president loved his mother and behind-the-wheel hand jobs, though never at the same time. Laura Linney’s somnambulistic performance as Frankie D’s lover/distant cousin makes this feel more like Dawn of the Dead than Sunrise at Campobello. In 1995, director Roger Michell came out of the gate swinging with Persuasion and hasn’t given us much worth looking at since. Hide or park yourself in another theater, anything but this. With Olivia Williams, Elizabeth Marvel, and Elizabeth Wilson. (2012) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.