Tamara Drewe
The Archers on viagra. That seems to be the consensus reached by most critics when reviewing Stephen Frears latest cinematic outing, whether that’s a positive or a negative depends, I guess, on your own personal turn on’s. Based on Polly Simmonds acclaimed graphic novel, Tamara Drewe is a satire of sorts set mainly amongst the middle class guests at a writers retreat situated in an idyllic English country spot. The well observed opening scene, portraying writers of different sorts (The academic intellectual, the slushy romantic and a hardened writer of lesbian crime fiction) sharing narration as they try to conceive of that golden sentence, is one that will have most of the audience unable to stop the laughter spilling from their lips. Fortunately, this is a trend that, at least for the most part, continues throughout the film.
What this film is most succesful at, both through Moira Buffini’s rather brilliant screenplay and the generally well suited cast of actors, is accurately observing the trivialities of British middle class society but without the condescending and unconvincing stereotypes that have littered most films of the last decade trying to acheive the same level of ‘send up’. The whole cast do a good job, Roger Allam is perfect as serial cheater Nicholas Hardiment and Arteton proves yet again why she has a great career as a leading lady in front of her but the real stand outs come in the form of Tamsin Greig’s hilarious, and yet moving, portrayal of a down trodden wife and the performance of two teenage girls, particularly Jessica Barden as Jody Long, who essentially steal the film from under everyone else’s noses. Whilst there are many plotlines running seamlessly through the film’s narrative it is the tale of two bored teenagers that, at least for me, moved and provoked the most. As I mentioned before, Buffini’s script is marvelous, balancing so many characters and plotlines is no easy feat and the dialogue is both witty and spot on.
Whilst I enjoyed this film, I didn’t love it quite as much as others have. There is a feeling that this project isn’t quite suited to its medium. As with some of Frears previous outings for the movies, you get a sense that this film would’ve fitted much more easily onto the small screen; somehow, these characters and their predicaments, even when shot quite well, don’t seem to fill that magnificently large screen before you. Also, and this drives at what makes feature length comedy so hard to do, the film risks pushing its tedium to the limit as it rolls toward its finale. Truthfully, the satire works, the characters are truthful and the jokes are actually funny, so my criticism’s are probably a case of me nitpicking, somewhat. At a time when our cinema’s are filled with juvenile, grotesque, two hour long toilet jokes passed off as comedy, and a world in which the Appotow strain of childish Humor can actually be considered innovative, a genuinely clever and funny comedy film like Tamara Drewe is definitely needed.
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