Judy (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Rupert Goold

Starring:  Renee Zellweger, Rufus Sewell, Finn Whitrock, Michael Gambon, Jessie Buckley, Bella Ramsey

Judging from how the young Judy Garland was treated, it is little surprise her later life was clouded in a fog of booze, pills, ex-husbands, and trouble.    While making The Wizard of Oz, the studio led by the cold and ruthless Louis B. Mayer controlled every aspect of Judy's existence.    Heaven forbid she eats a hamburger while dining out with Mickey Rooney, because she might get fat.    There is an instance in which Mayer dares her to walk off the set and resume her life of anonymity.   She doesn't, becomes a star, and probably wishes later that she took Mayer up on his dare.

Judy Garland was as addicted to the spotlight as she was alcohol and drugs.    She couldn't leave stardom behind; clinging to it with sad desperation.    By the time Judy begins, Garland is a washed-up performer dragging her two children from her fourth ex-husband Sid Luft (Sewell) from city to city living in hotel rooms.    After the hotel where she and the kids stay in Los Angeles kicks her out, Judy comes by Sid's house in the middle of the night to drop off the children.    Sid is reasonable, and willing to take the kids in, but knows Judy all too well and how trouble awaits her right around the corner.   

Soon, an opportunity arises for a nightly show in London, where she is still in demand.    Judy isn't thrilled about having to leave her children behind, but soon she is staying at a posh suite being waited on by a starstruck assistant (Buckley).    Because Judy Garland is Judy Garland, showing up sober and on time aren't likely.   Her performances are erratic, her attendance spotty, and she soon has to convince her promoter (Gambon) that she will stay on the straight and narrow from now on.   We all know better.

Judy fluctuates between London of late 1968 (a mere six months before her death) and the late 1930's, when a young Frances Gumm becomes Judy Garland, and her life is never hers again.   Whether it's the studio, or a dictatorial chaperone, or soon alcohol and drugs, Judy Garland is controlled by something or someone.    It's a sad, tragic existence, and her life is snuffed out by a drug overdose at only 47 years old, nearly broke and a shadow of her former self.  

Zellweger is up to the heavy lifting it takes to play Judy Garland, and of course she can sing, as evidenced in her performance in Chicago (2002).    Zellweger downplays her usual pluck to deliver a portrayal of a movie star who became a legend, but never was able to enjoy much of it.    The ending is hokey, and some of the facts are fudged (especially concerning her opportunistic fifth and final husband), but Judy works because Zellweger invests Judy Garland with as much as life as could be mustered under the circumstances.