Hidden Figures
Director: Theodore Melfi
Talent: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner
Released: 17th February
Katherine (Vaughan), Mary (Monae) and Dorothy (Spencer) are mathematicians working for that bastion of American prowess and progression, NASA in the 1960s, but for the purposes of this film, are expressions of their respective demographics. They go through predictable, and consequently boring, obstacles to an incongruous Pharrell Williams musical backdrop and all live happily ever after.
There’s a good story here, but with back-stories of three women, their relationships with one another, workplace and institutional racism and the Space Race all crammed into two hours and seven minutes, too much is bitten off to be reasonably chewed. Crummy, and in parts painfully contrived, dialogue that exists purely to advance the plot is an inevitable and frustrating by-product. The story and the women themselves are let down by the script, acting, and messy scene changes — that is, pretty much everything — in this comprehensively disappointing film.
Words: Sarah Taaffe-Maguire
