Oggz

...if you don't take Dynasty too seriously and see it for the mindblowing circus it certainly was. Having bravely stormtrooped through the 200+ episodes - and the insipid reunion - after a long while, obviously I needed some more so I came by this telemovie which takes a cartoonish approach but paints the said circus fairly well. My main draw here was Alice Krige, whom I like very much and whose acting abilities have been confirmed many times over, the stage included. Unfortunately she is the biggest disappointment here. Could it be that she just doesn't do camp well? Who knows. She got Collins - whose voice is at least a major third higher and a lot more piercing - utterly wrong, the accent and vocal affectations included and closer to Beacham in fact. To be true, the lines she is given are crap too. Hardin and John as Evans and Forsythe are caricatures as well but fare better, however the show is wise to rely largely on Pamela Reed's considerable acting talent and her interaction with her husband (presented more or less as a pushover). Somehow I have a feeling the real Shapiros were a lot more colourful to say the least.

All in all, I'd say this is trashy tongue-in-cheek fun just as Dynasty itself was, and made for fans of the original show - or at least those of us who hate ourselves a bit for liking the show that much. It's not too long so it never drags on, and it afforded me at least one absolute laugh-out-loud moment ("I am Yanni"). On the other side of the spectrum, a rather insightful line is given to Forsythe earlier on ("We have lost total respect for our audience!"). That one does ring true. In any case this is a half-baked but harmless piece of TV fluff which should hold your attention throughout, whether you end up hating it or not.

Maybe I expected a little more from this having read the mostly superlative reviews first. It's watchable yet nothing to rave about - except perhaps the lovely Scottish accents and some performances - namely the well cast Catherine McCormack whose stylish grace dominates the screen whenever she's on it. Sam Troughton is good too, as is Colin Firth, deliberately underplaying the lead, but that's where things become a little less focused, which could be said of the script and the direction too. The biggest disappointment is the music though, especially when it lazily resorts to that plaintive Interstellar chord progression which seems to be popping up in just about each and every recent BBC drama. Banal and effective in equal measures, it just won't go away. The story arches over five episodes where four would have been just right and some livelier pace more than beneficial. In short, a routine TV production which occasionally feels a bit too routine, tearjerking a little more than good taste dictates, baroque in detail and thick in atmosphere yet somewhat lifeless at times. Which is to say - not a time waster but you'll hardly be glued to the screen.

I'm frankly astounded by the low rating and negative reviews this lovely little movie has received. You don't need to have been born and raised in Australia during the 70s to recognise the warm, affectionate glow of nostalgia, laced with moments of brash, sometimes wicked hilarity. In fact, the whole film comes across as some neurotic Australian "Amarcord" of sorts (with a hint of "The Ice Storm" in deeper layers) so there's a hell of a lot to enjoy here if you approach it without lofty expectations. It may not be a masterpiece of modern film-making but it certainly doesn't deserve the wrath displayed by the user reviews. Moreover, the production is spot on with vibrant, vivid photography and a flawless soundtrack ("You're Moving Out Today", anyone? I'll take three, thanks). It's a feel-good, messy ride from top to bottom which may well leave you feeling slightly bitter-sweet in the end but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. A nice film that I'm sure to return to soon enough to see all that attention to detail again.