Tuesday, December 15, 2009
CULTURE CLASH
Today's movie was
Based on a Noel Coward play, this story of an American woman who marries a British boy and comes to meet the parents is a rundown of the rundown aristocracy in England between the World Wars.
Updated, it still holds some water but mostly evolves around some enjoyably eccentric stock characters (ugly sisters, hostile mom, disrespectful butler) that we have all seen before.
What makes it, finally, enjoyable is its twisty ending.
Colin Firth and Kristen Scott Thomas play the parents very nicely. The young people passably. Jessica Biel and Ben Barnes.
There is a bit with a chihuahua that goes over the line of drawing room humor into slapstick which I didn't appreciate. A failure in the film's mood. It took me awhile to recover.
Typically, for Coward the bon mots are delicious.
Otherwise OK.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
