drivel

Rating: 2/10 (22 January 2008)

It's enjoyable to watch high-calibre performers strut their stuff. The calibre of Ms Streep and Mr Tucci is very high. So far so good. They are presented to us here in a world of which we are invited to disapprove. But how can we disapprove of it when it is inhabited by such entertaining star turns? We can only love their world because we love them, and the excellently eccentric young Emily Blunt. We like, but we are less interested in, the pleasant, friendly Ms Hathaway. But her choices are the ones we're supposed to empathise with. We watch her make the approved moral choice. We might even think we would do the same. But the people we enjoy (Streep, Tucci, Blunt) are those whose moral choices are entirely questionable. So at the heart of this movie is a paradox. Or, to put it another way, a cynical lie. Who can blame Streep and Tucci for wanting to be associated with this junk? The parts are good. They play them well. But the fact is that this movie stinks. Give me the Farrelly Brothers any day - at least their drivel smells good.