Oates is getting to the party pretty darn late; there aren't a lot of bones left to pick through. But what's left isn't pretty, and in adapting "Blonde" the miniseries, director Joyce Chopra and screenwriter Joyce Eliason focus morbidly, as did Oates, on the pervasive darkness in the life of Norma Jeane Baker. [13 May 2001, p.L8]
In translating Oates' ambitious and stylized retelling of Monroe's life to television, screenwriter Joyce Eliason and director Joyce Chopra have unfortunately created a fairly dumb "Blonde." [14 May 2001, p.1G]
It doesn't take you close to the heart of a self-destructive icon. It simply skims the surface of the legend, sad and beautiful as she was. [11 May 2001]
Depressing, dreary and dull as dishwater-blond hair, "Blonde" - a weird meditation on the life of Marilyn Monroe - confirms that the networks have run out of ideas for programming their big ratings months. [13 May 2001]