Artful oddballs are certainly in Tim Burton’s wheelhouse, so it comes as no surprise that he would be intrigued by the story of painter Margaret Keane (Amy Adams), a single mother in the 1950s with a unique vision who enjoyed amazing success, only to have to fight to hold onto her claim on her work against her husband Walter (Christophe Waltz), of all people, who brazenly took credit for her paintings and the movement that emerged from them in the 1960s. Burton slips free of the cartoonish clutches of Johnny Depp this time, but falls in with Waltz and his fixation with playing mustache-twirling types. The saving grace here might just be Adams, a steadying presence with a big set of innocent peepers of her own. (Opens wide Thursday) (PG-13) Not screened in time for review.
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2014.