Notes On A Scandal

What can't Judi Dench do?  She can play the Queen of England with a fierce, jewel-lined-smile in Shakespeare in Love.  She can play the rambuctious, sexually free owner of a dying English theater in Mrs. Henderson Presents.  And now she's playing a sexually frustrated and lonely old school teacher (borderline crazy teacher at that) in Notes on a Scandal, another Oscar-nominated performance.  So what can't she do?  Really?

Even though Notes on a Scandal feels like raw material for an ABC Sunday Night Special, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett (also nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category) set this film high abovce that status.  Told with conviction, a North-Country-meets-The-Talented-Mr.-Ripley-meets-Psycho-meets-What-Ever-Happened-To-Baby-Jane little schoolhouse drama/thriller that eventually creeps you out and makes you chuckle at Dench's voice over at the same time.  Clearly a great DVD rental, if not somewhat unsettling, this movie's just one of the many in the long line of 2006 that could be called "good films."  And speaking of 2006.  Top ten lists you three????