In The Prince and the Showgirl—the movie that the memoir-based My Week with Marilyn concerns—Marilyn Monroe throws a raincoat off a balcony. You could watch Marilyn Monroe throw a raincoat off a balcony all day long; it is certainly better than watching Michelle Williams attempt to portray her in My Week with Marilyn. Williams isn’t even especially terrible, though the breathiness and the moues do get tedious; she’s just a failure, as anyone playing Marilyn is doomed to be. Eddie Redmayne, as the youthful assistant who becomes Marilyn’s confidant on the set, is very charming, while Kenneth Branagh plays Sir Laurence Olivier as if he never stopped acting—with all the woodenness of someone who has a large stick up his posterior—which is probably true to life. Still, the contempt of the actual Olivier toward the actual Monroe in The Prince... (palpable, especially when they have to kiss) is far more interesting. My Week... is a typical biopic, with the requisite neutered dialogue, always-flattering lighting, and solemn voice-overs. Monroe fans, maybe; everyone else, never mind. (BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT)