THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE

THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE (2005). Director: Mary Harron.

Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) travels from Nashville to New York City in the 1940's and becomes a pin-up queen, also appearing in naughty soft-core movies [mostly on bondage and discipline] made by Irving and Paula Klaw (Lili Taylor] of the Movie Star News shop. Rediscovered years later, Page became a cult figure in the seventies and after, especially among male comics fans. Mol has a great body and gives a fine performance as Page, and there are other professional performances, but ultimately one wonders if she was really a worthy subject for the biopic treatment. The whole project, co-written by director Harron, is rather lightweight. Page's healthy, open-minded attitude toward her work is refreshing, but she "finds God" at the end. John Cullum and Austin Pendleton are also in the cast.

Verdict: More a little naughty than notorious. **1/2.