All dressed up...

Rating: Null/10 (12 April 2004)

Oh dear, oh dear...I wanted to like this movie, I really did. But...I'm afraid I thought it was dire. A bad, bad movie...despite the fact that Colin Firth is in it. I should really have learned by now...don't go to see the movie just because you fancy the star!
For me, this film falls into the "All dressed up, and nowhere to go" category. It's very brightly packaged, even the poster of the film had a bright red bow on it. But it's all packaging, and no substance. It's lazy, manipulative film-making. The situations are, for the most part, completely unbelievable. Prime Minister falls for tea-lady? Nope, no can do. Beautiful young woman fancies Alan Rickman? Please. Then you have some nerdy guy who decides to go to Wisconsin believing that his "British accent" will make him irresistible to women. And guess what happens? Yeah, you're right...he ends up having what looks like group sex with three (or is it four) hot babes. Sigh.
There were plenty of other things that annoyed me as well. The Colin Firth storyline was promising, but not nearly enough time was spent on it. And the storyline with Laura Linney and her mentally ill brother was very interesting but was left hanging in mid-air, with no resolution. And there was also a precocious kid, who was "in love"(?) with another precocious kid (who must have been about 12 but was absolutely caked in make-up). Liam Neeson is a great actor but he was totally wasted in this. So much of the film was just incredibly cheesy.
The only storyline which brought a smile to my lips was the Bill Nighy-Gregor Fisher one. But then again...there wasn't nearly enough of it! Just when I was getting interested, off it would go to another daft storyline.
The trouble is, Richard Curtis & co can put out stuff like this and the public will eat it up with a spoon. He doesn't have to try hard at all...this is a movie for the easily satisfied. It's like junk food...put enough artificial colouring and flavouring in it to disguise the fact that it's not really all that good.
Must do better, actually.