My Giant

(Warner)

Veronica Franco is a 16th-century Venetian who learns that the only way for a woman of her low station to get what she wants -- money, an education, freedom, and studly aristocrat Rufus Sewell -- is to become a courtesan servicing Venice's noblemen. Catherine McCormack (Mel Gibson's ill-fated wife in Braveheart) is nice to look at and game for anything, including swordplay and Renaissance poetry slams, but the movie's stone-faced silliness does a disservice both to its star and to the surely more intriguing true story of Victoria Franco.