Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I am and of this film. It's weird, the play is weird, everything about it is weird.

The play is three hours long and seems to be one big game between two characters. They invite this couple that they have only just met over for drinks. This is very late on in the evening and the couple are younger. Manners seem to go out the window and they just creep out this couple in a bad way, in an uncomfortable way. I would hate to be in that situation and would look for a way to escape from that environment.

Elizabeth Taylor (National Velvet, Lassie Come Home) and Richard Burton (1984, Hamlet, Alexander the Great) take on the lead couple but it is not the best performance from Elizabeth Taylor, more of a different performance. The character is weird and as I haven't read the play or seen the play (not that I want to) I can't say that she isn't doing a good job of portraying the character but there have been more convincing performances from Elizabeth Taylor or at least character better suited to her that allow her to shine a little more.

Even though the movie was made only 8 years after 'Cat on a hot tin roof' Elizabeth Taylor looks a lot older and they obviously chose to shoot this film in black and white. I don't know if she put on weight for this film or they just upped the makeup and effects for this film because I would have sworn that there was something like twenty years in between those two films. Both actors looked a lot older than they actually were for those films. Knowing that Imelda Staunton is playing this role gives an idea of the age range of the character and I am surprised that these actors pulled off the age of these characters so that is an extra thumbs up for them.

The film manages to cut off almost an hour from the stage production so thanks for that because most of this film is a lot of shouting, screaming wildly or generally being a little crazy and three hours is far too much to endure if that is all that it is going to be. With hardly anything in the setting- just the interior of the house and the exterior of the house there is nothing to contribute to the scenery or set expenses so it is safe to assume that the movie was low budget because they spent the budget on their stars. Having watched the film I am not particularly inspired to go and see the stage production. Maybe the play is just like that, just that weird with the only memorable moments coming from them jumping around the house singing 'Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?' and it's not a bad adaptation of the play but either way it isn't selling the play very well.