10 Most Overrated Movies Of 2016 (So Far)

I've seen this film described by a lot of critics as "unashamedly feel-good," which has caused me to furrow my brow and say to no one in-particular: "Really? This?"

It might or should have been that film, of course, an endearing and heartwarming biopic about a woman triumphing against the odds, but there is an underlying nastiness to Florence Foster Jenkins that stops it from being exactly that: the same kind of mean-spiritness that made Susan Boyle a star. Because despite the "zero to hero" nature of Boyle's story, she was - and still is - something of a joke.

That's not to say that Florence Foster Jenkins isn't accurate, because the life of the real Florence Foster Jenkins was ripe with ridicule. Here, though, it's as if director Stephen Frears can't quite find the right approach to the material; is this suppose to be a tribute to its titular singer, or is it poking fun at her?

So whilst Meryl Streep is fantastic and Hugh Grant delivers one of his most unexpectedly great performances, there's an awkward clash as the film tries to find Jenkins as a subject to be laughed at and admired at once. You can imagine Frears off camera during every scene, giggling at the absurdity of it all. Florence Foster Jenkins should have been an uncomfortable film, or a funny one, but perhaps not both.

An yet it holds just four negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes; genuinely surprising given that, tonally, the film is as all over the place as Jenkins' voice was.