I, like most people, thought twice about spending a good few hours of my life watching an old man fall in love with a teenager, but my respect for O'Toole and a free ticket voucher at the Denver Film Festival were more than enough to motivate me to see the film. Had I not gone, I would have made a serious mistake. O'Toole's performance is as good as anything he's done, and the whispers about Oscars might just have something behind them. Somehow, Roger Michell directed this film so beautifully that nothing that occurred between Maurie and Jessie seemed morally ambiguous whatsoever. Maybe it was the pairing of scenes with poppy Corinne Bailey Rae music that made it seem so natural, but I strongly suspect otherwise. O'Toole, paired with a beautiful performance by virtual unknown Jodie Whittaker, takes us into a world that disregards social boundaries and replaces them with raw human emotion and understanding. Though O'Toole's performance captivates the Oscar attention of anyone who sees the film, the supporting role played by Leslie Phillips was essential to the film's success. The relationship between Phillips and O'Toole's character had the entire theater laughing just seconds into the film. Overall, a cast of entirely endearing characters and knockout performances by O'Toole, Phillips, and Whittaker make Venus one of the best films I've seen in 2006.
