Let me start off by saying all the actors give outstanding performances in this film.  The three Academy Awards earned by the actors were most deserving.  Matter of fact, watching this film is like watching a stage drama when the acting blows you away.   However, there are other aspects to this film which made it an overall disappointing movie experience for me.  The constant switching between scenes with the young Murdoch and Baley and scenes when they are older was too distracting.  Sometimes the scenes go back and forth within seconds of each other which makes it hard to get a feel for what the characters are going thru for that particular time.   The film would be more compelling if these scenes were allowed to be drawn out so that the emotions displayed could be better felt by the audience.

      The biggest problem with the film is it's dealing and showing the relationship between the writers.  While the entire film deals with this man and woman being with each and being in love with each other, it does not explain well enough how these two complicated people, who seemingly totally different in character and persona, would actually fall for each other and spend the rest of their lives together.  They pretty much get together right off the bat and I would have preferred to see how their attraction developed.  Also, at least two thirds of the film deals with Iris being in a funk with her Alzheimer's disease.  I wanted to see more of the healthy Iris and all the things that made her an exciting person and writer.  I believe if more time was spent showing how these two people came to depend on each other and less time showing Iris roaming about in a daze not knowing where she was or who people were, the film would have been much more powerful.

      Now, I'm not saying this is a bad film.  It's just that I expected a more compelling film, especially with all the great acting involved in the movie.  I guess if you want to see the devastating effects that Alzheimer's disease can result in, especially to a most intelligent and life-loving person as Iris was, then this movie succeeded.  But if you want to see more insight to these character's persona and love for each other, and what made them what they were, then the movie failed to some extent.

     -- Mike ( 2 1/2 out of 4 pops )

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      Billy Ray ( 2 1/2 out of 4 pops )

      I finally got around to seeing this one, after weeks of waiting on it to finally come to my area.  "Iris" was a decent film, but I did not feel it was good enough to deserve so much critical acclaim.  The performances, which are what received most of the critical acclaim, are outstanding, though--especially Jim Broadbent, who shows how versatile an actor he is by going from a singing and dancing burlesque owner in "Moulin Rouge" to such an intense and moving character in "Iris".  And, has Judi Dench ever chosen a bad role?  Even if she has, she still gives one hell of a performance--kind of like "The Shipping News".  Kate Winslet is also on target in this film, though she certainly did not deserve the Oscar nomination.  This is one that you can definitely wait until video to see--you gain nothing extra by seeing it in the theater.