AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Ploydsge just watch it!

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

blanche-2 "Appropriate Adult" from 2011 is based on the Fred and Rosemary West murder case. A social worker in training, Janet Leach (Emily Watson) is brought in by Gloucester police as the "appropriate adult" at the interrogation of Fred West (Dominic West), thought to be a little on the simple side. He and his wife Rosemary (Monica Dolan) have been accused of killing their daughter and burying the body in their garden.Fred says right up front that he wants to set the record straight. He tells a story of his daughter wanting to leave home, that she said something nasty to him, and he grabbed her by the throat. Suddenly she turned blue. He tried mouth to mouth but she seemed to get worse. Well, what to do. So he got an ice breaker to cut off her legs so he could stuff her somewhere and then Rosemary wouldn't see her.When asked why he didn't tell the police this before, Fred says, "Well, I wasn't ready." Anyway he claims Rosemary knew nothing about it. He is so casual and matter-of-fact, listening to him is shocking.Fred seems to take to Janet, so he confides in her, again, casually, that there are more bodies, around nine. Since anything he tells her is confidential, she can't repeat what he said. Later he talks about the love of his life, Anna, and Janet discovers that she bears a resemblance to her. He seems to be very dependent on her.Janet has her own problems - children and a bipolar partner who has gone off his meds.Once his interrogation is over, Fred begs her to visit him in prison. Thinking he might give her more info and implicate Rosemary, she visits him several times.This is a terrific psychological drama. It kind of reminded me of what actually happened to Capote in the Cutter case, where Perry Smith bonded with him, or so Capote believed. I think he tried all along to manipulate him, as I think Fred here played Janet. Janet is not fooled by him, but there is something about him claiming that he needed her that keeps her coming back and makes her feel important out of the chaos of her home.Emily Watson is fantastic - quiet, unassuming, very committed, and by the book, who becomes more involved than she planned, and who can't forget the horrors that Fred tells her. And Dominic West is simply astonishing - no emotion as he talks about the killings, talks about Anna being the love of his life, and how Rosemary, who is in prison under suspicion, must get out of prison to keep the family together. As if there is a family and Rosemary is not a prostitute.Monica Dolan as Rosemary is mean as dirt. It's a great performance - she's hateful.Highly recommended. A very unsettling story of a normal woman who comes face to face with the unimaginable.

mformoviesandmore This was shown locally buried in a a midnight time slot.Whilst Emily Watson delivers a commanding performance in the lead role of the "Appropriate Adult", it is Dominic West whose performance as the psychopathic killer Fred West which gives this story believability. In every scene he us mesmerising and you can feel the power of persuasion his characters had on women.The power of the story is also made by how ordinary events seem. The supporting characters do not try to outshine the leads; this is not a show with quirky cops solving cases. It shows the mundane and procedural efforts required of the constabulary even when such a heinous set of crimes are being investigated.This could very easily have been one of those dire woman-who-carries- the-load-let-down-by-men stories that get churned out in England with such dire monotony. Thankfully it rise above that sub-plot - rises and soars.

Robert D. Ruplenas I find I'm the skunk at the garden party with this flick. I found this highly acclaimed docudrama repellent, but not for the reasons one might suspect. It was repellent - as well as incomprehensible - to watch Leach's developing interest and fascination with Fred West. Anyone watching this movie should first do some Googling to find out the details of what Fred and Rosemary West perpetrated. If anyone deserves to be called human monsters, it is this pair. In the light of this knowledge, the script's clear intention - to me anyway - to actually make West into a figure of sympathy is disgusting. Knowing the nature of his deeds, his weeping and the crying about the "baby" (complete with colorful regional pronunciation of the word) are repulsive. It was also interesting to see the British treatment of prisoners in interrogation: allowed to wear their own clothes (no prison uniforms) and pretty much conducted like afternoon tea. As at least one other critic has observed, it is incomprehensible how any morally sentient human being could develop any sympathy with this fiend, as Leach evidently did. As the relationship between Leach and West is at the core of this narrative, and her motivation remains unexplained if not inexplicable, the whole movie does not wash.It was nice of the producers to include the photos of the actual victims in the closing credits. During the movie itself there is minimal emotion at their loss; the burial of their remains is portrayed with as much moral weight as the burial of a pickle jar.

JohnLeeT After conquering stage and screen and making them her own with a talent both exquisite and overwhelming, Ms. Emily Watson assaults the small screen and is once again victorious. She is absolutely stunning as she assays the role of Janet Leech, interpreting a character so sublimely that it takes the breath away from the unprepared casual viewer who is somehow unaware of Ms. Watson's incredible acting genius. Ordinairly, she alone would make this film a personal gem in her crown but she bows to the rest of the cast and humbly assists them in giving performances well worth her association. Watson inspires others to greatness, as she almost did even with Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk love. In that film, neither her lovely presence and creative power could quite achieve the impossible with Sandler. However, what she does with the more substantial material of West here and with a brilliant script is amazing. She was awarded the BAFTA for her accomplishment and of course lost the EMMY to a Hollywood airhead tootsie of limited ability but a casting couch regular. True magisterial talent is usually unrecognized by Oscar and EMMY and the outrage one feels at Watson having neither been awarded the recognition she more than deserves speaks for itself. More than an outrage, it is a disgusting and repellent act of ignorance and cowardice for her to have ever left any ceremony empty-handed. Britain, however, could not in this case turn their eyes away from a performance so powerfully moving, a performance that will live for all time, and define the artistry of a gifted, supreme actor. Emily Watson's performance in Appropriate Adult is one of the finest ever recorded on film and will forever serve as an example of the national treasure she continues to be as she assays one brilliant role after another. This is simply not to be missed by anyone appreciative of an artist at the pinnacle of her career and a beautiful genius whose very presence is beyond price. Emily Watson is a rare gift to literate theater and film audiences everywhere and the finest actor of her own generation as well as all others.