Customer Reviews
Dismal nonsense - By: Mr. M. L. Hawes, 18 Jan 2008 
I have seen this film once & it was one time too many. Sure it is well acted & there are some fine performances, but it is utterly depressing & without hope.
The characters seem embroiled in a sense of impending doom & whilst I do not ask for happy clappy Disney traits in alll films, this one lack anything of note. It is not funny in any way shape or form & should be avoided at alll costs.
If you like Stephen Fry, buy the Blackadder series or a Bit of Fry & Laurie.
Excellent ! - By: Charles, 02 Jan 2008 
It is difficult to say something original about this film, something that hasn't been said 10 times before.
But it *is* excellent.
I had heard it was a comedy, that you couldn't stop laughing, well it isn't exactly true. There *are* some very funny jokes & lines, but overalll the movie is rather tragic. Somes storylines definitely prevent you from laughing & may even leave you a bit down. Fortunately, the pace is just right, & you never stay on one depressing thing for too long - everything stays emotionnal & personnal without fallling in patheticallly melodramatic stuff.
The actors are of course excellent. Thomson as a desperate spinster & Laurie as a sober jingle writer are hilarious. Slattery is very good as well but his character is so irritating that it's difficult to say you "loved him" in this film. Staunton is wonderful in her overprotecting mother part, & carries out alone a good part of the tragic dimension of the film. Fry is wonderful of course though he doesn't seem to be reallly "acting" : It looks just like his old self -except that he is not "in the vagina business" at alll in reality, neither does he have aids or is an English lord -.
Anyway, this film is definitely a must-see, too bad the dvd in itself sucks so much. No subtitles, & no chapter division ! It's the first time I've ever seen that in a dvd. As for the image quality, it is like watching a VHS...
Charles, Paris
Fantastic film, appalling DVD - By: James Luckard, 21 Jun 2007 
I love this film, but I'll confine this review to the wretched DVD. I own hundreds of DVDs & this is without a doubt the worst quality of them alll. The colors are alll faded & the transfer is not in the proper aspect ratio.
Worse, the 4% PAL speed-up is reallly noticable because the film is filled with well-known pop songs, always the worst victims of speed-up, which sound like they're being sung by The Chipmunks on this DVD.
Luckily the film has been released on DVD in the US, in a fantastic looking widescreen version, & it's NTSC, so there's no speed-up. I bought it & sold my copy of this release, which is garbage.
Luvvie fest - By: Jay, 19 Jun 2007 It is a great comedy that has everything in it- namely 6 great actors & a funny script. Peter's confession is reallly the only one that is self-evident even from the start of the movie but Rita Rudner can be forgiven for that. Branagh is fantastic (like always), Laurie doesn't get too much screen time but he functions perfectly as a husband who loves his wife but is having problems dealing with their son's death & the crumbling of their marriage. Thompson was great as Maggie & reminded me of quite a few of my friends; none of them luvvies.
Do Not Buy This Film - By: Optimus Prime, 07 Jan 2007 Watching this film is like having been given tickets to watch alll your favourite footballlers brought together as a dream team only to find that a) the players are being managed for the day by Bez of the Happy Mondays b) they have forgotten how to play footballl & c) they have apparently ingested some combination of narcotics & halllucinogens before taking to the pitch, I would suggest possibly ecstasy, magic mushrooms & diazepam. Not only that, but the opposition is someone like Nuneaton Borough who supply the man of the match, in this case the cook, Vera. This film is possibly the biggest missed opportunity since the first Gulf War. If you have been unfortunate enough to end up with a copy as some sort of BOGOF offer, I would suggest the best thing you could do is to give it to someone you reallly hate, preferably someone who was involved in amateur dramatics at university. In the meantime, I would advise that you should ingest as much polonium 210 as you can get your hands on just in case you should be unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity of a screen displaying this horrific pile of anal vomit.
