he formula about King Henry VIII and his wives has been one of the most overworked storylines of all historical subjects (even last year we had the first season of The Tudors, on Showtime). And now we have yet another one. The Other Boleyn Girl, adapted from Philippa Gregory's 2001 novel of the same name, takes a slightly darker view of Anne Boleyn, mistress and eventually second wife of England's King Henry VIII.

It's a fine period piece, but a major motion picture that has the misfortune of coming at the tail end of the more sexy and provocative Showtime series that covers almost exactly the same material. The resulting effect, though impressively big budget, feels clumsy and contrived.

The Other Boleyn Girl feels like an episode of a Masterpiece Theatre

The clever first hour introduces us to the scheming Boleyn clan; Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson), the younger sister, is married off to a wealthy merchant's son, while the tempestuous Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman), the older one, is yet to be married off. It seems their socially ambitious father, Sir Thomas Boleyn (Rylance) seeks to marry off the nasty social climber. It is the scheming uncle, the Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey) who wants to set Anne up with Henry VIII (Eric Bana), whose current wife, Catherine of Aragon (Torrent), has been unable to provide him with a male heir. If this all works out, he'll take her as a mistress and make the family a fortune.

But of course when the dull-witted king visits the Boleyn estate, he falls not for Anne but her younger sister, Mary, who is happily married, has no interest in being the king's mistress. Anne is furious, and schemes to get Henry - which leads to her to be exiled to France as punishment. But Anne’s foreign stay is brief, and returns educated, sharp-tongued and more ambitious than ever.

While Mary awaits the birth of the king’s (unfortunately illegitimate) son, Anne’s wiles prove irresistible. And Henry is seduced yet once again. Henry would eventually execute Anne under charges of adultery, incest and treason, and the movie suggests that in exchange for queenly power, she was more than willing to engage in any of these activities.

All the major talent seems to have been gathered behind the camera for this project, including screenwriter Peter Morgan ("The Queen") and director Justin Chadwick (Masterpiece Theatre's "Bleak House"). Director Chadwick and production designer John Paul Kelly try to enhance the tension with many shots of dark, foreboding skies. But while there is some impressively invisible CGI work going on in the background, The Other Boleyn Girl feels like just another episode of any Masterpiece Theatre mini-series.

Both Portman and Johansson offer acceptable British accents at best, and Johansson isn’t much of a presence as the virtuous Mary. Portman, who starts out slowly as Anne, eventually eagerly assumes the role with steely-eyed grace. The film looks terrific. The beautiful cast is framed by lush cinematography, and production designer John-Paul Kelly creates a highly convincing Tudor England world for the Boleyn girls. But as a whole, the film is bland and flat, and when the movie does unleash its meatier side, it does so in ways that has been done to death.