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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Tamara Drewe (Film)

by Belinda Hazleton | January 31, 2011 15:39 | Edited January 31, 2011 15:40

While beautifully shot, this film never seems to work as its characters are unbelievable and it shifts uneasily between comedy and drama.

If you've been a fan of director Stephen Frears' earlier films such as My Beautiful Laundrette, Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity and, more recently, The Queen, all featuring fine acting and engrossing storylines, then don't approach Tamara Drewe expecting anything similar.

 

The film is based on the comic strip by Posy Simmonds, which first appeared in 2005 and was loosely inspired by Thomas Hardy's novel, Far From The Madding Crowd.  It tells the story of ugly duckling, Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton), who returns to the Dorset village where she grew up to sell the family home. Although her background is sketchy, it seems that she was once the laughing stock of the local community, mostly due to her large nose. Now, thanks to a plastic surgeon's knife, and several years in London, she is transformed into a beguiling young woman with a successful career and skimpy clothes, who sends all the local males into a spin.

 

Next door to Tamara's house is a writers' retreat, run by Beth (Tamsin Greig) and Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam). Inhabited by cliched characters, it is the scene of much of the action as the Hardiments' marriage unravels, the cattle riot, and the gardener relives his childhood infatuation with Tamara.

 

Highly stylised, Tamara Drewe is beautifully shot, and the talents of the supporting cast are evident, especially newcomers Jessica Barden and Charlotte Christie, who have pivotal roles as local schoolgirls, with nothing better to do than meddle and create mischief.

 

That said, there is little else to recommend it. The main characters are unbelievable, perhaps not surprisingly given their comic strip origins, and it is difficult to care about what happens to any of them. Overall, Tamara Drewe feels confused. It doesn't know what it wants to be - a comedy, a drama or a melodramatic blend of each - or who it is aimed at. Thus, it will probably end up pleasing few...