From Variety: It takes some chutzpah to title something “The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe,” given all the books and movies devoted to her life. But Lifetime has taken the 2009 tome, and turned into an eponymous four-hour miniseries. What sets this latest rehash of the star’s existence apart, marginally, is a knockout performance by Kelli Garner and, to a lesser degree, Susan Sarandon’s turn as her mentally disturbed mother, the relationship through which everything else about the girl born Norma Jean is filtered. Mostly, it’s a dutiful but nothing-new account of the ultimate anti-feminist icon — a sex symbol heavily defined by romances with famous men.
