First Night

An engaging film with a smashing cast, good photography, and a great script by John Mortimer - never a writer to ignore, and sadly no longer with us. There are too few films like this on offer, and this isn't one to miss. Bringing Opera to the big screen must have been a tough number to pull off, and this manages to bring a sublime taste of Mozart to an hilarious, entertaining story about real people. The cast - particularly Richard E Grant, Nigel Lindsay and Sarah Brightman - are a total delight throughout. It's fizzy, slightly farcical at times (no bad thing), always amusing and diverting. In a world dominated these days by hugely expensive but ultimately cheap blockbusters, this is a welcome antidote to the usual British grit, grime and "realist" ghastliness that we tend to expect in reply to Hollywood. Anyone who saw Michael Frayn's 'Noises Off' would just adore this... and it's far cheaper to see than the price of a theatre ticket...

If you don't have time to read my full review, I'll sum it up by saying "1st Night" is a classy comedy romp in the same vein as the great period pieces "Impromptu" (1991) and Molière (2007) but set in modern times. If you haven't seen those movies I just mentioned then spank yourself with a conductor's baton and go see them right away.

Like those two films, "1st Night" is about the wild and crazy messes that rich folks get into when they throw a slumber party to try to buy their way into artistic standing. Set almost entirely in Scotland's majestic Manderston House (in the movie they alter the name slightly), the plot is about an outdoor opera being staged at a rich guy (Adam)'s country house so he can show off his vocal chops but more importantly woo the musical director Celia. Early in the story, however, he hits a stumbling block which derails the direct approach, making him instead opt for a more conniving and circuitous way to her heart, involving an ill-advised bet. As you can guess, this leads to trouble not just for Adam but for the poor saps who get roped into the comedy of errors, thus spawning several criss- crossing plots which, themselves, revolve around love, deception and the wacky hijinks that ensue.

One film critic disparagingly compared this flick to "Three's Company" and I say hell yes, I loved Three's Company! While here we don't exactly have Mr. Furley listening through the bathroom door and bugging his eyes out, I'd say the same delightfully silly sort of comedy is at work. Anyone who is not too supercilious to enjoy a good John Ritterian comedy of errors should enjoy this flick. I did and look at me, I use big words like 'supercilious'.

I have to admit I didn't like the characters at first because they all seemed like snobs, as Mozart said in "Amadeus" - "people so lofty they sound as if they sh!t marble." But that ended up being part of the fun, as one by one these cultured upperclass folks degrade themselves with the same base antics that we 'umble folk encounter. Love triangles, love quadrilaterals and general bad behavior get the best of these people while they struggle to maintain their veneer of dignity in putting on a production of Mozart's "Così fan tutte" which is, itself, a comic opera about love, deception and an ill-advised wager.

Although the story might seem racy, for the most part it stayed tame and non-explicit. "1st Night" doesn't seem to have an MPAA rating, but I'd give it a PG-13 due to one brief nude scene and an implied sexual encounter or two (nothing shown). Also if you wonder about this sort of thing, no animals were harmed according to the disclaimer at the end, and yes there's an adorable rottweiler in the movie. Too bad the dog doesn't sing, but I guess he doesn't do Mozart. Just Pooch-ini. Laugh it up, fuzzball.

This is a movie that is engaging from the first scene taking you in to the world of opera with a group (led by the very entertaining Richard E. Grant who fancies an open air concert at his lavish estate)rehearsing Mozart's Così Fan Tutte and life imitating art with amusing consequences. The casting was faultless, the music wonderful and the synced operatic voices seamless. If there was one fault it would be that the movie was too short. You do not need knowledge of opera to appreciate this movie as the on screen action speaks an international language that will have you laughing out loud at the antics on screen. I saw this movie at a preview at Kings Place in London where the conditions were not ideal for a cinematic experience but once the light went down I was entranced. I am looking forward to its cinema release sometime this September 2011 and to its release on Blu-Ray as I could watch and listen to this movie several times. The viewing I was at was followed by a a talk by Stephen Evans who explained how the late john Mortimer was instrumental in choosing the opera for the film but sadly passed on prior to the movie been made. In a Q&A he was enlightening in the way films are conceived and brought to the screen so in his words ' this is a bit of a laugh with a bit of sizzle'. To further explain the plot would be to spoil the experience. WATCH & ENJOY.

This thing is about as un-entertainingly trite as you can get - Brit country house cross-trysts & confusions among all guests, play-within-a-play, tediously implausible plot - all served up via a Brit-wit rom-com repartee about as syrupy lugubrious as that epitome of British cuisine - treakle.

Richard "E." Grant is just playing his stock idiosyncratic character - what non-Brit thinks a Brit acts like (pip pip, tally-ho, and all that)- as he has been doing for about 5 dozen movies since his breakthru "Withnail & I" over 40 years ago - talk about "dining out" on the same performance again and again ...

I was interested that Sarah Brighton was in the cast - and would have loved a "Phantom" singing reference of some sort, but no - so a tease w. No pay-off and a lot of utterly boring snippets from the opera Cosi Fan Tutti.

The other characters are really worth mentioning, non-entities.

So there it is - if you get your first impression of how Brits do "comedy", you're going away with a pretty bad impression ...

I have always loved Cosi but never liked musicals, or opera for that matter. The singing in "First Night" captivated me. It's a frothy, silly plot with stunning backdrops, a wonderful cast, and scintillating voices. I sought it out because of Julien Ovenden, having enjoyed him in "Downton Abbey" and "Foyle's War." I read that he also cut an album, and this seemed a great way to hear him sing. The egos and fears of the cast were well played. The variety of characters kept my interest. I would watch this film again, simply for the soundtrack. Opera now seems like a team sport, and "First Night" gets you inside the thrills and spills of being in the cast. So glad I found this one!