Peter's Friends
by Kenneth Branagh
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DVD details
Actor: Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Rita Rudner, Stephen Fry, Tony SlatteryDirector: Kenneth Branagh
Brand: Sony
Composer: Jacques Offenbach
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 101 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Peter's Friends
DVD Review: Painful to watch
Summary: 2 Stars
Without including any spoilers to the film:
Just as the title to this review states, it was just simply painful to watch. The movie is about a group of friends who have lost touch over the years and are invited out to the English countryside by one mate from the group for a New Years celebration reunion. As things in life go, they find themselves having grown apart over the years, each 'friend' pursuing their seperate life and each friend having their own set of burdoning problems to deal with.
It's painful to watch because this movie is about a reunion, and we are met with awkward scene after awkward scene of each character battling their own demons that have plagued their after-we-all-lost-touch life. And it's even more difficult to watch when things would get heated and characters would yell things "they didn't mean to say" about other characters while in their presence.
What's even more painful about watching the movie is listening to it. The movie has one of the most annoying and predictable soundtracks making me wonder if the script was actually written around the songs themselves. Every fresh scene we are met with a cliche "reminiscent" song that sums up the previous scene and can pretty much sum up any sort of 80's teen movie.
However, despite my unusually harsh review, the acting in the movie is absolutely brilliant. Those who are a fan of Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and the rest of that class's Cambridge Footlights cast will be pleased to see old favourites reuniting in this movie. Being strictly familiar with Hugh Laurie's comic career, I was immensely impressed with his big scene (each character in the movie has their own poignant scene where they deal openly with whatever their particular conflict is), that showscases his ability in dramatic roles. You sympathise with Emma Thompson's character and the way she is gets treated by her "friends" in a couple scenes. Tony Slattery, while his character is completely annoying at first, he ends up giving a great performance. And of course, Stephen Fry is simply great (and you really feel for him during those awkward scenes I mentioned earlier), but the conflict that his character is battling within this film is simply predictable; not to mention, once he does reveal his secret to the group, his speech on the topic becomes predictable, as if it was lifted from one of those after-school specials.
While I know this review will be met with rolling eyes, it is simply what I thought about the movie itself, not the actors (some of them which I'm a huge fan of).
It's just one of those movies I would have been better off Netflixing, as it doesn't even have any bonus material making it a worthwhile buy.
Description of Peter's Friends
PETER'S FRIENDS - DVD MovieWhat if you could go back to your glory days? Peter's Friends, sort of The Big Chill reconceived as an Agatha Christie country-estate drama, lets a group of university pals ponder that question while they must deal with their present-day demons. Kenneth Branagh's film, written by costar Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman, is buoyed by its vast and talented cast, whose chemistry keeps the action crackling, even when most of the action is the characters speaking. The friends are reunited at Peter's posh country home after the death of his father, for one last New Year's Eve. The bons mots fly, and the interaction of the actors is, as the Brits say, brilliant. Peter (played by the sublime Stephen Fry): "It's funny, with both my parents gone, I suddenly have this overwhelming urge to act maturely." Andrew (Branagh): "Oh, well, I don't think anybody really matures. Adults are just children who owe money." Yet buried among the one-liners and drawing-room manners are disappointment, heartbreak, and a heavy secret (which, many years after the film's original 1992 release, doesn't pack the same wallop). Emma Thompson shows nuance and delight as Maggie while Hugh Laurie shows his dramatic capabilities. Other winning performances are given by Imelda Staunton and Tony Slattery. The setting is an absolute stunner, and viewers will wish they could spend a holiday at the manor. And the soundtrack will transport them to a sweeter time in the early '80s, when "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." Cozy up for a delightfully unexpected evening with these Friends. --A.T. Hurley
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