Hargreaves isn't having anything close to a good time, and Cox ensures that we won't, either. My First Wife is not a fun movie. Cox's near obsessive interest in the material makes it an extremely powerful experience, but not an entirely pleasant one. Considering his subject, I'd prefer it that way. I'm not especially interested in seeing a fun version of King Lear , either.
Some subjects demand a serious approach.
Hargreaves and Hughes are excellent in the central roles. Hargreaves shows us every blow that strikes his character. His pain reaches down from the screen. His character behaves with the embarrassing desperation of real life despair, making you almost want to turn away, as you do from a couple having a nasty argument in a public place. Hargreaves' greatest challenge is to make us care for his character despite his excesses, and in this Hargreaves succeeds.