Factory Girl - review

Factory Girl (15)
Dir. George Hickenlooper

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

If and only if the thought of watching breath-taking action involving heroically muscled men in skimpy outfits and red cloaks battling insane odds leave you cold should you seek out Factory Girl this week over the mighty 300. This is a self important, fictionally enhanced tale of Edie Sedgwick, troubled society girl extraordinaire who never quite made it big but whose claim to fame was being patronised by Andy Warhol.

Warhol's bloated and seedy world of the ‘Factory’ is a place that grates on the nerves very quickly. Whilst everything is effectively brought to life – you can virtually smell the flatulent drug haze – it doesn’t mean that it’s a place you’d want to hang out.
Sienna Miller makes an attractive Sedgwick and really throws herself into the role but it is to little avail. The sad fact is that it’s simply no fun watching a spoilt little rich girl self destructing in grand style however authentically it is portrayed. Whatever slight sympathy you might harbour for Sedgwick has a very short half-life as she along with just about everybody else here become tedious to watch before the film is half done.
So Miller proves she can deliver in a leading role and Guy Pearce makes a decent Warhol even though it could be anyone under the glasses and wig. Hayden ‘Skywalker’ Christensen plays Bob Dylan who gets into an awkward romantic situation with Sedgwick (although his character is not named because of legal wrangles from the Dylan estate).
Some may enjoy seeing a society ‘it girl’ poverty-stricken, drug-addicted and generally on the ropes but Factory Girl fails to win any hearts of minds and merely serves as a car crash spectacle.
What’s annoying is that the whole Factory scene must have been an insane coalition and could potentially have made a crazy film experience detailing the dangers of excess, fleeting celebrity and of course the life wrecking drug effects. Alas Factory Girl is a limping shallow exercise in boredom, which cannot be saved even by copious ‘real’ talking heads who expound their recollections of Edie Sedgwick over the end credits. Unfortunately for all concerned by that point it’s far too little, too late…
Give me the blood soaked glory of 300’s Spartan warfare over this arty self-obsessed claptrap any day.

Darkmatters rating system (out of 5):

Action ö - none to speak of
Laughs ö – none to speak of
Horror ö – none to speak of
Babes ööö – Sienna is hot but this movie isn't

Overall ö (rich girls have issues too!)

Darkmatters: H O M E