I rented this movie because of the promise of Julie Walters, Joan Plowright, and Jeanne Moreau co-starring in a comedy. And indeed, Moreau and Plowright are absolutely marvelous. Walters does better than the script deserved with the thankless role of the bride's cheerful-but-none-too-bright mother. The plot moves at a snail's pace, and Moreau telegraphs her role in the movie's delicious conclusion in the film's first 30 minutes. If this sign of things to come was to prevent us from turning off the movie in utter boredom during its first half it succeeded. When the always magnificent John Wood comes in as Moreau's ex-husband things pick up a bit.
But, Anna Headey as the bride is way too winsome and enigmatic and distant. The result is that we are annoyed by her total lack of backbone and will in handling the fact that she is engaged to a man she doesn't love, and does not wish to marry. There is more to this than meets the eye, but Ms. Headey fails to even give us a glimpse of any depth at all. She remains fatalistic and a resigned victim even though none of her relatives are pressuring her to marry. The actor (Helgast?) playing her fiance, Syl, is brilliantly feckless and cloying. But, Headey gives both him and Waters precious little to play off in their scenes together.
Overall, i give this 6 out of 10, certainly worth sticking with once you've started since the second half is much better than the first. Also, in fairness, it probably seemed even more remote to me, as a Yank, because of many cultural references with which I was unfamiliar. I would imagine that people from Croydon would find much more to revel in than I did, particularly if they ever lived, or had any relatives who ever lived, in Egypt.
But, Anna Headey as the bride is way too winsome and enigmatic and distant. The result is that we are annoyed by her total lack of backbone and will in handling the fact that she is engaged to a man she doesn't love, and does not wish to marry. There is more to this than meets the eye, but Ms. Headey fails to even give us a glimpse of any depth at all. She remains fatalistic and a resigned victim even though none of her relatives are pressuring her to marry. The actor (Helgast?) playing her fiance, Syl, is brilliantly feckless and cloying. But, Headey gives both him and Waters precious little to play off in their scenes together.
Overall, i give this 6 out of 10, certainly worth sticking with once you've started since the second half is much better than the first. Also, in fairness, it probably seemed even more remote to me, as a Yank, because of many cultural references with which I was unfamiliar. I would imagine that people from Croydon would find much more to revel in than I did, particularly if they ever lived, or had any relatives who ever lived, in Egypt.
