{"id":2486925,"date":"2026-07-03T18:25:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2486925"},"modified":"2026-07-03T18:25:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T18:25:49","slug":"young-washington-review-meh-george-washington-origin-story-fails-to-inspire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/young-washington-review-meh-george-washington-origin-story-fails-to-inspire\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Young Washington&#8217; review: Meh George Washington origin story fails to inspire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fnewspress-collage-lu00dmtoe-1783099101288.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261783084765\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--review alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n\t\t<span class=\"inline-module--review__eyebrow subsection-heading-semi__label\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tmovie review\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-module--review__title subsection-heading-semi\">\n\t\t\tYOUNG WASHINGTON\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rating\">\n<div class=\"rating__stars\">\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 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stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--empty\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--empty\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Running time: 125 minutes. PG-13 (Some bloody images, strong war violence). In theaters.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>During a 1755 battle in \u201cYoung Washington,\u201d future U.S. president George Washington dangerously runs toward the enemy French and their Native American allies alone and clutching a gun.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s making himself a target,\u201d a stunned fellow soldier says.<\/p>\n<p>Parts of that depiction of early heroism are shown in slow motion, almost like \u201cCaptain America,\u201d in director Jon Erwin\u2019s movie, and the music swells. It\u2019s the textbook formula for goosebumps. And yet I defy you to feel anything while watching it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Although so-so \u201cYoung Washington\u201d fulfils its baseline promise \u2014 Look! Washington! While young! \u2014 it doesn\u2019t accomplish much more than that. The film succeeds in neither humanizing him nor deifying him, and so the Revolutionary War hero comes across as strangely milquetoast. He\u2019s a striver, sure, but here he\u2019s not an especially exciting or extraordinary one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>William Franklyn-Miller plays a George with a skincare routine <span class=\"credit\">ANGEL<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--more inline-module--columnist inline-module--more--thirds\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<h2 class=\"inline-module__heading subsection-heading subsection-heading--single-line \">\n\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"subsection-heading__sub\">Johnny Oleksinski<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>What the founder?! Stories about far less appreciated American history heroes such as HBO\u2019s \u201cJohn Adams\u201d miniseries with Paul Giamatti and the Broadway musical \u201cHamilton\u201d have ably proved what singular and inspiring figures those men were. \u201cHamilton\u201d still packs \u2018em in nightly, and it\u2019s about the <em>father of the treasury<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Next to them, the mythic Washington would seem a no-brainer. But this is a rudimentary tale, if an accurate and informative one, of ascendancy without edge or energy and with out-of-sync performances from just about everybody.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>None more so than the title whippersnapper. Model and occasional actor William Franklyn-Miller plays a George with a skincare routine. He\u2019s a lowly tenant farmer who dreams of being an officer in the British army. Virginia-born George is meant to be the earthy colonial contrast to all the prissy and entitled Brits around him. However, you wouldn\u2019t know that from the actor\u2019s \u201chuh? whaaa?\u201d air of casual bemusement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Andy Serkis hams it up. <span class=\"credit\">ANGEL\/Patrick Redmond<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Franklyn-Miller is CW modern. He could sign his letters \u201cxoxo George.\u201d And it\u2019s a big stretch to believe him as a scrappy 18th Century worker who infrequently bathes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile his fellow actors Kelsey Grammer, Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis and Mary-Louise Parker unconvincingly strain to exist in the past. Serkis, as Edward Braddock, really hams it up, not that the pageant-like script does him or his overacting colleagues any favors. I doubt he\u2019ll ever call \u201cYoung Washington\u201d \u201cmy precious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The story starts with George\u2019s tragic childhood, as his older half brother Lawrence educates him after their dad dies. Twelve years later, despite his ethic and efforts, he\u2019s still looked down upon by the ruling elite.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be a British officer you must first be a gentleman,\u201d he\u2019s scoldingly told off.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Kelsey Grammer plays Lord Thomas Fairfax. <span class=\"credit\">ANGEL\/Patrick Redmond<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But, a smartie, he asks the Lt. Governor of Virginia Robert Dinwiddie, haughtily played by Ben Kingsley, if he could lead an expedition to the Ohio River Valley to boot the French off their land. Nobody else wants to do it. Fine, Dinwiddie says, but he must use a volunteer militia \u2014 not professionals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn army of outlaws, debtors, slaves and, uh, patriots,\u201d jokes his friend. There are a lot of lines here delivered with a wink, knowing a little too well the greatness that\u2019s in store for Washington.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Erwin does a fine job with the beginning battles of the French and Indian War. They\u2019re not epic, but they\u2019re not supposed to be. The smaller clashes are laying the groundwork for how Washington will later win the Revolutionary War \u2014 by rejecting ostentatiousness in favor of surprise. And who doesn\u2019t like a line of lads loading and shooting muskets?\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Mary-Louise Parker plays George\u2019s mom Mary. <span class=\"credit\">ANGEL\/Patrick Redmond<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Unfortunately the film fights better than it feels. Erwin devotes a good amount of screentime to Washington\u2019s romance with Sally Fairfax, and it\u2019s all stiffer than a redcoat. The same is true of his frigid relationship with his mom Mary (Parker).<\/p>\n<p>George proves himself gradually to his effete doubters while suffering the occasional setback. You know, a few hundred casualties here and there. In the last scene, he gets a well-deserved promotion and changes his outfit from red to blue in a typical origin story nod to what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n<p>What the movie lacks is a clear moment when we collectively know that George is going to be <em>the<\/em> guy. A scene with real chills. In that sense it\u2019s the viewer who feels ambushed\u2026 by disappointment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure this review will upset some history buffs. But, readers, I cannot tell a lie!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>movie review YOUNG WASHINGTON Running time: 125 minutes. PG-13 (Some bloody images, strong war violence). In theaters. During a 1755 battle in \u201cYoung Washington,\u201d future U.S. president George Washington dangerously runs toward the enemy French and their Native American allies alone and clutching a gun. \u201cHe\u2019s making himself a target,\u201d a stunned fellow soldier says. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2486927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[348137,21741,315836,489665,304995,21912],"class_list":["post-2486925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-andy-serkis","tag-entertainment","tag-kelsey-grammer","tag-mary-louise-parker","tag-movie-reviews","tag-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Young-Washington-review-Meh-George-Washington-origin-story-fails-to.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2486925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2486929,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486925\/revisions\/2486929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2486927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2486925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2486925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2486925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}