The Chaperone is a perfectly pleasant film that has very little to say and is mostly forgettable. The movie is told in flashback. Nominally, this movie is about Norma Carlisle, a married society woman from Wichita who impulsively decides to chaperone Louise Brooks (the future silent film star) on a trip to New York City when Brooks is 15 in 1922. Carlisle has her own agenda for New York involving finding her birth mother, and Louise is quite wild. However, the two eventually develop an understanding and get along after some initial problems. Carlisle also finds romance and becomes more empowered in her own life. The movie then returns to its present, 1942, when Brooks is a washed up film star, teetering on the edge of complete ruin. Carlisle gives her a pep talk and sends Brooks on her way back to New York. The movie then ends with a title card which significantly downplays how tragic Brooks' life ended up being. (Essentially, she became an alcoholic sex worker who lived much of her later adult life in abject poverty.)
Overall, the acting in the film is perfectly serviceable. McGovern is fine, the actress playing Brooks is fine. There's just not much here to recommend.
Overall, the acting in the film is perfectly serviceable. McGovern is fine, the actress playing Brooks is fine. There's just not much here to recommend.