Tamara Drewe

[hdaniel82]

I rather liked it, it was quite quirky and those two teenagers made the movie! Was vaguely repulsed when Tamara decided to sleep with Nicholarse though, eeeew!! She does come over as a bit of a ho by the end too tbh. Scenery was nice, I didn't realise it was adapted from a book. The Q&A was a right snore fest, 2 of the 3 microphones weren't working and the questions weren't terribly engaging. Beate, her OH and I snuck out early! Nice to see you prettyxcool!

6.5/10

Edit: many thanks to Beate for saving me seats. And sorry to that moviegoing Guardian reading stranger who I accidentally whacked in the head during my stumbly, made-more-difficult-by-darkness and late arrival into the back row!

[superhero]

Was the audience complementary/polite to Stephen Frears?

[Beate]

The big screen was nearly completely full and I loved the film. Very quirky, very funny, Dominic Cooper and Tamsin Greig were at their best. Gemma Arterton, well she just smouldered at everyone, but she did it well. I was rather suprised and slightly taken aback when errr... the cows took action - everyone else just seemed to find it hilarious. It's a very British film, not just the accents, the scenery and the snipes against Americans. The 15 year-old girl in love with the boy band drummer was very realistic and very funny. Beside all that you could say about the film (like no chemistry between Tamara and the hunk from next door, or even the old geezer for that matter), it was a very enjoyable romp, and I laughed more than in Going the Distance and The Switch together. There was one line that made me double over for 5 minutes - unfortunately I can't remember now what it was! Can any of my seat neighbours? The back row was a complete FMUK row btw, with 5rannoch, prettyxcool, milkchocmonkey, myself, hdaniel82 and phunkygal at the end. Saw ejwrank and spoke to tilly too.

The Q&A was a borefest though. I wouldn't have minded Tamsin Greig and Dominic Cooper telling a few funny stories from the shoot but it was just the director and a woman named Posy, and they um'd and ah'd their way through the questions, with only 1 microphone out of 3 working. Couldn't see the merit in talking about how the book differed from the film after only about 5 people in the audience signalised they had heard about/read it so after 10 minutes we snuck out through the side-entrance. Did you know there is a gent's right outside the door there? But of course none for the ladies, we had to go all the way down the stairs then walk around the building and enter again through the main entrance. How very dare they.

Oh yeah, and the OH won premiere tickets for 6 September, so we are going again! Well at least me, not sure about the OH, he doesn't see the point in watching films more than once, so I might be on the lookout for company.

8/10

[Beate]

Was the audience complementary/polite to Stephen Frears?

In that they slept or left quietly, yes. We didn't hang around for the part where he might get audience questions.

[Beate]

Was vaguely repulsed when Tamara decided to sleep with Nicholarse

Freudian slip?

[superhero]

I must be like your other half, there really isn't much point watching films again and again when there's always new films out there to be watched.

[soonforgotten]

I thought this was a great break from the typical Hollywood fare. The cast was excellent and when it was funny, it was very funny. I found it to be really enjoyable. The main drawback is that it's not really established who you're meant to pull for. As the title character, Gemma Arterton is really good. I like her more and more each time I see her. However, I'm not sure how the audience is meant to feel about her. The word "slag" comes to mind, but I doubt that was what they were going for. Sam goes for the drummer. For as much screen-time as he had, I felt the character was underdeveloped. Is the audience meant to dislike him, distrust his motives, or feel sorry for him? I dunno and anyway it was more fun than I thought it would be. I'll go 7/10.

[Beate]

Yes she was not easy to pin down - ugly-duckling-turned-swan that can suddenly lay all the guys (yay, go for it girl!), then she goes for the older married man whom for some strange reason she has had a soft spot before, (not on, you marriage-wrecker!), so how do we feel about her? Apart from some serious lack of judgement there is nothing wrong with her really, she's a modern woman, and it takes two to tango. The boy band drummer was just a big kid, a bit arrogant, but membership in a boy band does that to you. Anyone who cries over a dead dog is ok in my eyes. I thought Dominic Cooper was an excellent pin-up, with almost as much eye make-up as our new receptionist.

[Beate]

I must be like your other half,

Yes, he's a superhero too sometimes.

[Sydney_Bristow]

Well this certainly sounds like the better of tonights previews!!! Will have to catch it the next time round cos it sounds like a corker!