An attractive
journalist goes back to her rural hometown.
Adapted
from a comic strip published in the guardian that is also a loose adaptation of
“Far from the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy, at least according to the wisdom
of Wikipedia. I didn’t read either of those and so I can confirm that you don’t
need any insider knowledge to approach this movie.
This is a
joyful and satirical farce full to the brim with good laughs and interesting
situations. The plot is a little bit convoluted but following the axiom that in
a little town everybody is talking about everybody else the intricacies of the
events are thematically correct and a pleasure to follow.
Stephen
Frears won every possible award for “The queen” and here he shows that he didn’t
lose his touch. Not only the setting is beautiful, which by itself is a running
gag considering how many characters wants to escape to the big city, but all
the characters get their chance to shine in this ensemble movie. This is much
harder than it looks; many directors struggle to properly develop a plot line,
even when that is the only plot line of the whole movie. Frears juggles
expertly a dozen different characters, everybody with his own motives, moving effortlessly
from one to the other.
Gemma
Arterton deliver her strongest performance yet in the year that saw her get to
the brink of superstardom. Tamara Drew got so much going on that in sloppier
hands she could have easily come as a very unsympathetic character.
The cast is
rounded up by a crew of British Thespians, lead by the always wonderful Roger Allam,
and a couple of young up and coming, Luke Evans and Dominic Cooper. Evans in
particular works nicely as the notional male lead and shows a nice amount of
charisma.
Maybe not a
masterpiece on the level of “The Queen” but this is an excellent movie that
will keep you entertained for the evening.
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