A really well made British film with a thoughtful storyline,and a fine cast. Good to see that fine actress Jenny Seagrove in a role well suited to her and played to perfection........wish she were my mum, but I'm too old. One of those rare movies of today that end making the viewer feel inspired and genuinely happy.
14 Reviews
Not bad
howie7325 September 2005
Compared with the atrocious Love Actually, this is not bad. For a change, the film focuses on the nouveau riche rather than pompous middle-class people who plaque such films as Love Actually and Notting Hill. Jenny Seagrove's character epitomises this nouveau riche world, alongside Charles Dances's pony-tailed dentist. It's the first time I have seen Charles Dance not play a upper-crust toff and it was quite a shock. Anthonhy Edwards plays the requisite American in London and it was fairly obvious what the outcome of the film would be early on. There are a few funny lines of dialogue and some scenes are quite touching. Jenny Seagrove does a good job but isn't stretched by the limitations of the script. Charles Dance is underused but manages to steal some scenes from the rather bland character Anthony Edwards plays. Not bad for a British romcom.
Despite Anthony Edwards very likeable persona...
dwpollar20 September 2001
1st watched 9/19/2001 - 5 out of 10(Dir-Willi Patterson): Despite Anthony Edwards very likeable persona, this film as a whole tries to do too much and ends up being about too many things. The movie could have been a very sweet romantic comedy, but there are so many side stories(Aka. The Dentist, the son and his sports aptitude) that Edwards becomes an everybody's man rather than just a nice guy who falls in love with a nice woman. This is one of those movie's where I wish I could recommend it because I was routing for it till the end(mainly because of Edward's) but the supporting characters are not nearly as believable as the main couple and they take up too much screen time. I believe Edwards could play many different parts and do them well but he hasn't been getting the opportunity to stretch his acting talents. This is one of those examples.
UK title Don't Go Breaking My Heart
cujimmie19 February 1999
This is a slushie, a moving Mills & Boone. You could just as easily call it moving wallpaper. It passes a couple of hours and it doesn't offend anyone. Jenny Seagrove acts woodenly, a Lada of femmes-fatales, while Anthony Edwards strolls through the film in an apologetic decaffeinated sort of a way, looking out-of-synch with his English surroundings and upper middle class hinglish. He delivers such an uncommanding screen presence in this big-screen film that I question his wisdom in giving up his day job on Channel 4's "ER".
"Us Begins with You" is the American title. Quite clever, eh? For a moment or so. The British title is better. But it too means nothing, and tells you even less about the film. So what's it all about? Jenny Seagrove is a widow running her husband's gardening business. She's happy with her widowhood, keeps busy with the family gardening business and isn't looking for a replacement hubby. Young son is unhappy, misses dad, is under-achieving at boarding school. Jenny's friends are trying to fix her up with a fella in the shape of Charles Dance, a dentist. He does the dirty by hypnotising her in his dentists chair, aiming to make her receptive to his charms. Coincidence, and film scrptwriters, get in the way of his evil plans. Up turns Anthony Edwards, sports psychologist, who has just lost his job training Linford Christie. Honest! Can it get any worse? You betcha.
The film lasts just under two hours. Surprisingly, I wasn't bored by it. There are a few funny moments and some effective one-liners. Linda Bellingham is as delicious as ever and, along with Tom Conti, steals scenes and demonstrates to the others how it can be done. I was all the while bemused that so much effort could go into making a film that has so little impact and one which will leave no ripples in that sea of celluloid that flows our way from the distributors. No Oscars here. The ladies in the audience loved it and giggled at the naughty bits such as when the backdrop to a conversation was a diagram of female reproductive organs. Such subtlety. And these same women obligingly shed a tear in auto-response to the director's synthetic massaging of the audience's emotions. I cried too but for a different reason. Four out of ten.
C U James
"Us Begins with You" is the American title. Quite clever, eh? For a moment or so. The British title is better. But it too means nothing, and tells you even less about the film. So what's it all about? Jenny Seagrove is a widow running her husband's gardening business. She's happy with her widowhood, keeps busy with the family gardening business and isn't looking for a replacement hubby. Young son is unhappy, misses dad, is under-achieving at boarding school. Jenny's friends are trying to fix her up with a fella in the shape of Charles Dance, a dentist. He does the dirty by hypnotising her in his dentists chair, aiming to make her receptive to his charms. Coincidence, and film scrptwriters, get in the way of his evil plans. Up turns Anthony Edwards, sports psychologist, who has just lost his job training Linford Christie. Honest! Can it get any worse? You betcha.
The film lasts just under two hours. Surprisingly, I wasn't bored by it. There are a few funny moments and some effective one-liners. Linda Bellingham is as delicious as ever and, along with Tom Conti, steals scenes and demonstrates to the others how it can be done. I was all the while bemused that so much effort could go into making a film that has so little impact and one which will leave no ripples in that sea of celluloid that flows our way from the distributors. No Oscars here. The ladies in the audience loved it and giggled at the naughty bits such as when the backdrop to a conversation was a diagram of female reproductive organs. Such subtlety. And these same women obligingly shed a tear in auto-response to the director's synthetic massaging of the audience's emotions. I cried too but for a different reason. Four out of ten.
C U James
dire chick flick (*spoiler*)
the_doctor5 January 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Last night I had a flashback -- to a scene in a film in which a woman was hypnotised into liking "the Beach Boys" -- only it went horribly wrong and she ended up loving "the Bitch Boys". For some reason, I couldn't remember the name of this film, or anything else about it. In the end, I had to call up a friend, and he couldn't remember either. After half an hour of searching IMDB, we found this.
The reason, my friends, why neither of us could remember what this film was called was because it was so dire that we had erased it from our collective minds: utterly trite, poorly directed low-budget chick flick rubbish, this film set an all time low in the 'romantic comedy' genre -- and I've seen "You've got Mail" AND "She's all that".
In fact, if memory serves me correctly, it was the same girl who dragged myself and my friends along to see these aforementioned films as well, and my only advice to you as a reader of this review is to stay away from this utter stinker of a romantic comedy, unless you're a teenage girl with completely stereotypical delusions about 'ideal' relationships. Having an IQ of below 50 would probably also help, after all, it's the only way you're not going to see this ending coming.
On a brighter note, I also remembered how I got that scar on my left arm -- I remember now that this film was so dire the only way I avoided an excruciating death by boredom was chewing into my own arm for something interesting to do. Avoid this one: it's that bad, folks.
The reason, my friends, why neither of us could remember what this film was called was because it was so dire that we had erased it from our collective minds: utterly trite, poorly directed low-budget chick flick rubbish, this film set an all time low in the 'romantic comedy' genre -- and I've seen "You've got Mail" AND "She's all that".
In fact, if memory serves me correctly, it was the same girl who dragged myself and my friends along to see these aforementioned films as well, and my only advice to you as a reader of this review is to stay away from this utter stinker of a romantic comedy, unless you're a teenage girl with completely stereotypical delusions about 'ideal' relationships. Having an IQ of below 50 would probably also help, after all, it's the only way you're not going to see this ending coming.
On a brighter note, I also remembered how I got that scar on my left arm -- I remember now that this film was so dire the only way I avoided an excruciating death by boredom was chewing into my own arm for something interesting to do. Avoid this one: it's that bad, folks.
A delightful and whimsical romantic comedy
robert-temple-128 April 2014
This is a very funny romantic comedy which works because Jenny Seagrove musters her whimsicality and shows that she is an excellent comedienne with perfect comic timing. She plays a widow whose husband has died 18 months earlier unexpectedly of a heart attack, leaving her and her children bereft and bewildered. She is a very attractive woman, and her lecherous dentist, played by Charles Dance, has designs upon her. Instead of injections, he uses hypnosis on his dental patients. In Seagrove's case, he goes beyond dentistry and while she is 'under' he makes increasingly naughty suggestions to her to assist him in his dastardly plans to seduce her and marry her. Anyone who does not believe that things like this can happen has only to read the book OPEN TO SUGGESTION, where many cases of such abuses are described. But back to the film. This hypnotic manipulation has some comic moments. At one point, while Seagrove is in the dental chair in a state of trance and Dance is called out suddenly, leaving the radio on, she accepts hypnotic instructions from a radio announcer, with comic consequences. Seagrove has mastered a wonderfully 'dipsy' expression which makes her hypnotically motivated adventures come across as hilarious. The man who is in love with her is played by an American actor named Anthony Edwards, who had just appeared in a successful American comedy called PLAYING BY HEART (1998). This light and enjoyable confection was directed by Willi Patterson, a TV drama director who had directed Charles Dance 11 years earlier in a TV movie spy drama, OUT OF THE SHADOWS (1988). For some reason, Patterson ceased being a director after this film and since 1999 has done nothing else in the film or TV business which is recorded on IMDb. He had a light touch which was very suited to gentle comedy, and this film works very well.
Not exactly Top Gun
thedaxue22 April 2023
I like films. Top Gun was a classic and I proper love that Game of Thrones so thought I'd give this a watch cos it's got Goose from Top Gun and Charles Dance who died on the bog in Game of Thrones when his son shot him wiv a crossbow.
I thought perhaps a deeper meaning could be gleaned from this perplexingly weird tale of a dentist who tries to get his wicked way wiv a bird he fancies by hypnotising her. Maybe it was some kind of metaphor for producer Bill Kenwright's decades long obsession with Everton Football Club and his desire to have some kind of fairytale romance with the club? But instead of being a knight in shining armour, he turns out to be a creepy gaslighting weirdo.
But it's not. It's just a really crap film and it has a happy ending. No. Not that kind of happy ending.
I thought perhaps a deeper meaning could be gleaned from this perplexingly weird tale of a dentist who tries to get his wicked way wiv a bird he fancies by hypnotising her. Maybe it was some kind of metaphor for producer Bill Kenwright's decades long obsession with Everton Football Club and his desire to have some kind of fairytale romance with the club? But instead of being a knight in shining armour, he turns out to be a creepy gaslighting weirdo.
But it's not. It's just a really crap film and it has a happy ending. No. Not that kind of happy ending.
good-feel-good film!
James-661 December 1998
I saw this at preview (comes out 12/2/99 in UK as Don't Go Breaking My Heart) and was surprised how good it is. Come out feeling better than when you go in!
Anthony Edwards is good, Jane Leeves (Frasier) is very good. Tom Conti is a scene-stealer and Jenny Seagrove is great - not wooden as previously!
Direction OK, script surprisingly intelligent.
Anthony Edwards is good, Jane Leeves (Frasier) is very good. Tom Conti is a scene-stealer and Jenny Seagrove is great - not wooden as previously!
Direction OK, script surprisingly intelligent.
Fun!
Timbo-1610 May 1999
There is nothing here which challenged the brain, and it is not an earthshattering 'must-see' flick, but it was very enjoyable, with a very watchable story with actors who are well chosen for their roles (it was great to see Suggs). I must add that the story is also very predictable - but it is the type of film where that doesn't matter.
I just enjoyed it - it was as simple as that.
I just enjoyed it - it was as simple as that.
A real feel good romantic comedy - a must see.
Jambo22 February 1999
This film is a really nice small film with the great non-American humour. Tom Conti's cameo is excellent and the bonus is that at last there is a good film filmed in London - I know most of the places they visit. Beautifully shot and well put together. You would be stupid to miss it.
Quirky romantic comedy
jem-1416 February 1999
I saw this movie during a recent trip to London as Don't Go Breaking My Heart. I was attracted to it because of my divine love of the TV series ER. But I found it to be a fun, slightly offbeat comedy about a rather interesting love triangle. It was one of those movies where the underdog wins, with a cute love story mixed in with triumph of the human spirit. Despite a few holes in the plot, I loved it.
Boring: a poorly directed film with an even worse script.
bez-318 March 1999
This is an appallingly dull film which I guess is why they spent so much effort choosing different titles that might help to market it better on either side of the Atlantic.
I wish they'd never bothered.
Nobody likes seeing middle aged lecherous men getting randy and this is exactly what it divulges in. The direction is stilted and mundane and the script is truly awful. Pure cheese. This is the worst British romantic comedy I have ever seen. If this is all that we (I am British) can offer then we'd better stick to drama or otherwise put money into buying good scripts. A load of rubbish.
I wish they'd never bothered.
Nobody likes seeing middle aged lecherous men getting randy and this is exactly what it divulges in. The direction is stilted and mundane and the script is truly awful. Pure cheese. This is the worst British romantic comedy I have ever seen. If this is all that we (I am British) can offer then we'd better stick to drama or otherwise put money into buying good scripts. A load of rubbish.
Totally dire
simon.conder7 September 2003
What a dire film this is. Just terrible. Its a typicaly modern British film with terrible photography, lame use of music and zero charm.
What was Anthony Edwards and Linford Cjristie thinking. Please don't ever, ever, ever do anything like this again. 2 out of ten tops.
What was Anthony Edwards and Linford Cjristie thinking. Please don't ever, ever, ever do anything like this again. 2 out of ten tops.
seductive
Kirpianuscus2 February 2017
I am not fan of romantic comedies. but "Do not go breaking my heart" is more than a romantic comedy. it is a smart, seductive, little bitter, refreshing, generous, sensitive, touching and example of beautiful humor film. remembering Woody Allen films, it has, as the first virtue, the right cast. Jenny Seagrove escapes from the frame of Barbara Taylor Bradford adaptations and gives a great character. Anthony Edwards is far by other roles - the mark of ER is the most heavy - for do the ordinary guy who becomes the best choice for a single mother. and Charles Dance is the inspired choice for a role who represents the basic spice of story. a soup for soul is one of good definitions for this film. and that could be a virtue . because, among the films from the same genre, it is not only different but real charming.
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