Blue Jasmine

Presumably inspired by Bernie Madoff, this is really just a vehicle for Cate Blanchett. She does an extraordinary job, playing a very selfish, snobbish woman, but it does all seem a bit of a self-consciously fine histrionic performance - look at me and the extraordinary way I can play this rampant egoist, with all her minute mannerisms and facial tics. The characters around her are mere caricatures - the diplomat who wants to become a politician appears to have walked straight out of a Ferrero Rocher advertisement and Chilly is equally one-dimensional. Still, as someone else remarked, everything in he film is really just scaffolding for the Blanchett performance and, darling, she is magnificent (if you like that over the top Sara Bernhardt kind of thing).