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British comedy is a strange creature. There are films that are satirical, such as In the Loop, satirical, like Four Lions, to intelligence and dialogue driven, Withnail and I, and films that aim for low key charm, Calendar Girls. Sometimes a film may try and made a number of these features, like the work of Edgar Wright. Based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, Tamara Drewe hits our screens, with Gemma Arterton's profile continuing to increase.

The village of Ewedown has become a writers retreat, a place for writers to relax, work and chew the fat. Crime novelist Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) and wife Beth (Tasmin Greig) run the place, with an American academic, Glen (Bill Camp (who sounds a lot like William Hurt)) struggling with his book on Thomas Hardy staying with them. In the village two schoolgirls, Jody (Jessica Barden) and Casey (Charlotte Christie) cause havoc and mayhem simply because they are bored. But the village is turned on its head when the attractive journalist Tamara Drewe (Arterton) returns home to sell her out house. She turns heads, including drummer Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper), her old frame Andy (Luke Evans) and Nicholas.

Writer Moira Buffini and director Stephen Frears make a film with drama and wit, and some moments of out right laughs. Frears was able to inject some style, like when characters speaking when there are on the phone. The humour of the film relies on number of areas, witty comments and observation, physical violence and visual gags. The schoolgirls offer a lot of comedy because many people can empathies with their situation: rural England is not the most exciting place to grow up as a teenager. Their mischief making and thrills about a star in their village compensates Barden lack of confidence as an actress. It is refreshing to characters that do look their age. Frears and Buffini aim to a make a charming comedy, but with more swearing; so trying to have their cake and eat. The two should have tried to make gone one way or the other. Strangely for a film called Tamara Drewe, there are long periods where she is not on the screen or mentioned. There are plots involving Nicholas wayward eyes and the budding relationship between Glen and Beth: walking the fine line of drama and comedy. Tamara Drewe goes from being pretty serious and hits you with a sudden joke and vice versa: working with effect. Tamara Drewe is very British beast, but Glen the American does offer an outsider view and will allow a non-British audience a point-of-view, with few British swears and slang words being used. There are some issues affecting rural England, like rich city flock buying houses and making villages too expensive to live in and boredom for young people: but it is hardly a political piece.

Whilst some of pacing is a little slow and the film ends up sidetracking at moments, there are strong performances from most of the cast. Atherton shows why she is a raising star, giving Tamara a quick, biting wit. Allam effectively plays a very slimy writer who takes advantage of his wife and he seems to have a nack for playing dislikeable characters (his previous roles have been in V for Vendetta and Speed Racer). Cooper and Evans work well against each other as love rivals for Tamara, with Cooper really understands the part of a pretentious indie musician. Greig too gives a good performance and given her background as a comic actress, she her character is for the most part serious, with moments of witty comments.

Tamara Drewe is more a gently comedy with small jokes and drama and not a out right laugh fest as the promotion will want you to believe.

This is an utterly, utterly English film and all the more charming, wry and artful for that. No wonder both BBC Films and the UK Film Council helped to fund it. Director Stephen Frears ("The Queen")has taken a screenplay by Moira Buffini, adapted from a comic strip by Posy Simmonds which in turn is a kind of pastiche of Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd", and combined it with a wonderful British cast and the stunning Dorset countryside to create a delightful work which could hardly contrast more with the usual Hollywood output.

Set in the mythical and comatose village of Ewedown over the course of one year, the film - like Hardy's book - has three men vying for the attention of a bewitchingly beautiful young woman - Tamara who was brought up in the village, has reshaped her life in so many ways, and now returns as a successful journalist.

The casting is brilliant from gorgeous, former Bond girl ("Quantum Of Solace") Gemma Arterton as the eponymous attraction, sporting the most diminutive denim shorts imaginable, to 17 year old Jessica Barden who is terrific as the village teenager who unwittingly causes most of the mayhem, with so many fine performances in between, whether male or female, whether large or small. For fans of Thomas Hardy, there are many allusions to his character and work. For the rest of us, Buffini's script offers so many sharp lines before serving up a satisfying, if traditional, conclusion.

"Tamara Drew" is the typical irreverent British comedy, where comedy is not for its own sake, on the contrary the witty humour leaves space to some reflection upon human relationships, and love is responsible of all the twists and damages within the story. But what is interesting is not the story itself, which is quite lacking any significance, being the plot in the service of the characters, as they are more complex than they may seem. At the beginning they appear as prototypes of human vices or virtues: the unfaithful husband, the good supporting and reconciling wife, the sex bomb who would make every man fall into her bed, the good-hearted intellectual who still has some moral values... and in a way they are. But as the story progresses it helps reveal their complexity, to come to the conclusion that life is more simple than people often pretend it to be. The movie offers amusing moments, but it gets in a way a black comedy , mainly in the end, revealing some crudity, as if some kind of justice has to be rendered. The cast is explosive, the actress playing Tamara is undoubtedly suitable for her role, all the people living in the village are authentic and credible, showing a good chemistry between them, and the two girls, mainly Jodie, are really sparkling. On the whole, an entertaining product, full of humour to be explored.

Taken from a graphic novel that is loosely based on "Far from the Madding Crowd", "Tamara Drewe" is something of an unexpected treat from the great Stephen Frears. Gemma Arterton is Tamara, a journalist and former ugly duckling, who returns to the village of her youth, now something of a beauty, (she's had a nose job), causing considerable consternation among the locals, mostly the men, principal of whom is Roger Allam's crime writer who is two-timing his wife Tasmin Greig with any woman who moves. Then there's Tamara's old boyfriend Luke Evans, (think Gabriel Oak), and the rock drummer, (an excellent Dominic Cooper), she falls for (he's the Sergeant Troy figure). To make sure we get the Hardy analogy there's an American writer staying with Allam and in love with Greig and currently writing a book on the novelist. The plot, which also involves a couple of teenage girls with a crush on the Cooper character, gets more and more convoluted as the film progresses with the humour turning increasingly sour, but it's funny and clever and its failure was totally undeserved. Not the best of Frears but worth seeing.

The Independent journalist Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to Dorset, Ewedown, to sell the Winnard Farm that belonged to her deceased mother. Her neighbor Beth Hardiment (Tamsin Greig) runs a writers retreat with her unfaithful and womanizer husband Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) that is a successful writer of the adventures of his alter-ego Inchcombe and cheats Beth every now and then with younger women. Tamara was the sweetheart of the handyman Andy Cobb (Luke Evans), whose family owned the Winnard Farm but lost it to Tamara's family, and she sees him, she rekindles her love for him.

However, when Tamara travels to interview the unpleasant drummer of the Swipe band Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper), he has just found that his girlfriend Fran is having an affair with the other musician Steven Culley and he breaks up with the band. Tamara and Ben have a love affair and Ben moves to Winnard. Meanwhile, Ben's teenager fan Jody Long (Jessica Barden) and her best friend Casey Shaw (Charlotte Christie) that are bored in Ewedown feel happy with the presence of Ben in the village. When Ben proposes Tamara, they travel to London to spend a couple of days in the big city. Meanwhile the jealous Casey breaks in Tamara's house and uses her computer to send an e-mail pretending to be Tamara that will change the lives of the dwellers and end in a tragedy.

"Tamara Drewe" is a disappointing heavy-handed romance and comedy by Stephen Frears. The story is too dramatic for a black-humor comedy and too silly for a drama. Most of the characters are obnoxious, specially the annoying Casey and Ben. Gemma Arterton is very beautiful and when she appears wearing small short is something very sexy. Roger Allam is absolutely out of her league and it is difficult to accept and understand her love affair with such unpleasant man. In the end, I did not like this film. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Retorno de Tamara" ("The Return of Tamara")

Former ugly duckling Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to the village to sell her late mother's house. She rekindles feelings in former love handyman Andy Cobb. Andy works at the writers retreat of Nicholas Hardiment. Smug writer Nicholas is cheating on his wife Beth and she finds out. Tamara immediately catches everyone's attention as the men recall her with her big nose. She's a columnist and has an interview with obnoxious rock drummer Ben Sergeant. They get together and she accepts his offhanded marriage proposal. Andy is jealous. Restless local teens Jody and Casey are Ben fanatics and want Ben for themselves. Jody sends an email from Tamara's account and chaos ensues.

Director Stephen Frears creates a fluffy chaotic romantic comedy. The comedy is dark and light. This is a criss-cross of light and dark intents. There are some fun turns by these actors. Jessica Barden is memorable as the bratty teen. The kids are like crazy fairies interfering with the love affairs of the villagers. Gemma Arterton is the perfect heart breaker and broken heart. Roger Allam is such a creep and a charming one at that.

For me, the BBC Films logo is always a bit of a warning sign. Whilst their films are invariably challenging and technically well-made, they are often either unrelenting grim, or in strangely poor taste.

Tamara Drewe ticks both of those boxes (the second much more than the first). Overall, the film is little more than a group of shallow clichéd stereotypes, mooching around a rural village and sleeping with each other. It lacks any real depth or insight and cannot be deemed to be truly "worthy commentary". At the same time it is too dark and too sleazy to be palatably humorous either, and yet still does not work as black humour.

There are so many ways that the film could have been improved - from making some characters believable (the two teenage girls and many of the authors are not) to centring the film around one character or one relationship, and making that the focus. Instead the film wanders aimlessly around, seemingly looking for titillation, and finding it remarkably often.

To snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in so many ways, Tamara Drewe has really achieved something quite remarkable.

And a note to non-UK viewers - this is a shallow (and bitter) parody of the UK, quite unlike the bulk of UK-produced films, in fact.

A very, very good movie, no doubt. Everything, in particular, each man, woman, chicken, car, tear, cow and dog and meadow, each pop and tune is on the right place. Excellent dialogs, sparkling soundtrack, gorgeous photography, rich colors, fresh, witty and ebullient, perfectly balanced black and ... regular humor. The story is nicely knitted, a lot of grey matter must have been consumed for the dialogs. Some lines have got what it takes to become a "quote". I loved it! Found a few British stereotypes? So what? Troubles to follow the quick replies in the original English version? Cannot follow the subtitles while trying to translate the cream of the jokes? So what? Watch it again!! I will!

Good English comedy-drama.

Light, whimsical, subtle and understated - i.e. a typical good English comedy-drama! Decent, mostly character-driven plot, though threatens to unravel near the end.

Solid performance by the stunningly beautiful Gemma Arterton in the lead role. Well supported by Luke Evans, Roger Allam, Dominic Cooper and Tamsin Greig.

Despite all these good performances, the show is stolen by 18-year old Jessica Barden. Her over-the-top, kooky, intense performance as the seemingly-deranged schoolgirl Jody is screamingly funny, and keeps the movie moving.

The Good Life meets The Vicar of Dibley. Minus the laughs.

Steven Frears' career is, for me, a bit up and down. He's had his greats; The Queen and The Grifters for sure, but a lot of his best work has been for TV and this is a BBC funded movie that feels more like a TV show. I have to say it is beautifully realised. The setting in England's green and pleasant Home Counties (or is it the West Country?) looks delightful and the lighting is excellent. But it doesn't do very much at all. It seems such a slight premise for a movie and really is about manners; English middle class manners.

Set amidst a writer's retreat the concept should tee up some goofy, oddball characters with the opportunity for considerable set piece fun, but for some reason Frears chooses not to go down that path, consequently the laughs are few and yet this is billed a comedy. As a morality tale (which it really aspires to being) it doesn't really preach any morals. Hardly anyone gets hurt (apart from the long suffering wife of lotharian crime writer Nicholas Hardiment - played rather well by Roger Allam) but even she gets a get out of jail free card and our eponymous 'heroine' seems to be celebrated for shagging pretty much every guy that crosses her path.

Gemma Arterton looks alright, but she's not exactly Marlyn Monroe and she acts OK (but little more than that). Apart from Roger Allam only Tamsin Greig as his aforementioned rug of a wife can claim any acting credits at all. The Greek Chorus of 15 year old troublemakers who stitch the movie together are not credible in the least and Drew's first catch, the uber-stereotypical rock and roll bad lad, played by Dominic Cooper has just steeped out of am dram to overact like a bastard.

This is a poor film folks. It's all packaging and no content. And the truth is; it's kinda dull. Save your money.

5/10

The storyboard is about loves stories, I'd rather say love affairs, in a lovely English countryside village.

At the menu, we get an entertaining set of stories and characters, a bit of psychology about the difficulty to find the matching and deserving lover, about the aged people problems, we got also some English humor...

This makes a tasty meal. Yet this is definitely not the movie of the year. But I had a pleasant time watching this, even if I found myself sometimes wanting the movie to speed a little up. Good to watch if you want something entertaining but different from Hollywood action-movies.

I went to see this film with my wife after it got recommended to me from a mate of mine.

Nice movie with a brilliant, humorous and sarcastic story line that was surprisingly refreshing. Convincing actors that come across truthful in a witty plot.

Have to admit that British sense of humour is kind of special and most of the time tongue-in- cheek, especially for German viewers.

Saw this one in German, but will definitely try to get the English original version someday and watch that, too.

Absolutely recommendable if you are looking for great and tasteful entertainment on a Saturday night (out with your gf or wife as well ... )

If the plot was based on Far From the Madding Crowd which was not a comedy, then it is not surprising that there were not that many Laugh Out Loud moments. The feeling it gave was a sort of smugness that we the audience knew what was going on in a tragic sort of humourous way. I felt it was an OK way to spend 100 minutes but hardly life changing.

This was showing at the NFT in London. After the movie, the cast and director came on stage for a Q&A. I had no idea what this movie was going to be about other than it was based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds (whose work I had not seen or read).

The beautiful scenery didn't sit well with the unfolding story. There was no character that you could like or identify with. You either felt sorry or disgusted by them and that included the main character, Tamara Drewe. I didn't understand why the characters behaved as they did.

"Delightful" or a "feel good movie" this is not. The main theme of this movie is that it's not only writers that are "thieves and liars", but this is the general state of people today.

I, like many, I'm sure was seduced into buying/wanting to watch Tamara Drewe by the gorgeous Gemma Arterton parading around brazenly the sleepy Dorset village in her shorter than short shorts.

With direction from supremo director Stephen Frears, one immediately thought it mustn't be so bad and felt liberated that the perfect excuse had been found to wallow in some good-old village rumpy-pumpy and not to feel too guilty about it.

Tamara Drewe is not a great, or special film, but does boulder along quite nicely, with characters that are almost realistic - I live near that part of the world and in such hamlets, there is this strange and heady mixture of folk. I found it reasonably clever the way that Thomas Hardy, the world-known literary giant who wrote about and lived those parts and the that an American novelist, faced with writer's block has come for a retreat to study his beloved Hardy.

Tamara herself is largely believable as are her reasons for returning to the place of her home, as are the Hardiman's, as philandering best- selling author and his hobbyist farmer wife, played superbly by Roger Allam and Tamsin Greig. As others have mentioned the cheeky duo of bored and savvy schoolgirls steal every scene, their broad-accented Oh My God exclamation on everything epitomising every teenager in every village and town all over the country.

What does grate with me and ultimately reduces my enjoyment is the brash and unlikeable drummer that Drewe is sent to interview and is the crush of the schoolgirls. As the film is very loosely based on Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd - and I am not familiar with that work - I cannot say how important or faithful the inclusion of this individual is to the narrative. It does add zip and unrest in the almost comatose locale but is rather like a wasp that hangs about at a picnic - you put up with it but occasionally swipe out at it, hoping it might go away.

The story does sort itself out in the end, fairly neatly, which is kind of satisfying but the film is a tad too long - 106 mins is stretching it out too far.

Tamara Drewe is an enjoyable film, with enough substance to just about keep one interested, is often very funny and full of actors we all sort of know - and as I said, mentally excuses oneself from gawping at Gemma in those sawn-off and potentially deadly denim shorts....

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave this 4 stars (Friday 10th September 2010), Cosmo Landesman gave it 2 out of 5 in the Sunday Times.

I am with with Cosmo and fear some relationship between The Guardian and the film makers. This film was poorly scripted, had facile characters, a random plot and worst of all, wasn't very funny, failing to tickle the funny bone of my 16 year old and his two middle-aged parents.

I was expecting something akin to the TV version of 'Cold Comfort Farm', (also Frears?) This was not it....

Was it ironic? A comedy of manners? A satire on city types in the country? A wry commentary on how a Hardy-esquire take on the Archers might play out?

Who knows, a wasted opportunity.

Tamara Drewe is a real gem by The Queen director Stephen Frears. It is an updated version of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd but based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds. A dark comedy set in the English countryside, the story is centred on a writer's colony run by Tamsin Greig's character Beth and her crime writer husband Nicholas, played by Roger Allam.

Gemma Arteton plays the title character who lived in the same small down in Dorset known as Ewedown during her teenage years. Now grown up she returns to restore and hopefully sell the house she used to live in. With help from a surgically reconstructed nose, Tamara Drewe has blossomed into a beautiful woman and her presence shakes the sleepy town as Bethsheba did in Hardy's novel.

The film is true to the memory of Thomas Hardy maintaining the turmoil of sexual desire and even obsession across all age groups which so commonly adorned his novels. One of the characters, the sympathetic American novelist Glen played by Bill Camp is writing a novel influenced by Hardy and references the author on many occasions.

The film breaks the notion of a quiet and sleepy town, like so many British films do. Underneath these seemingly close communities lies an underlining suspicion. Everyone is in everyone else's business in Ewedown and Tamara's presence only helps fuel the tension.

The pivotal scene that embodies Tamara Drewe's character occurs when Glen tells her that life must be very easy for her because she is beautiful. She laughs it off citing that it has always been difficult for her to be taken seriously.

Behind the character of Tamara Drewe lies something more sinister. The sudden appearance of a beautiful face in the town leads to a series of events that causes the balance of everyone's life to be upset. Men are suddenly smitten by the prospect of sex while women are often jealous or angry by the disruption they cause.

The story really begins to escalate when Tamara begins to date a drummer in a rock band played by Dominic Cooper and sets up permanently in the town. Soon, everyone in the town is invested in the lives of these people in some way.

The voyeurism of the locals who regard Tamara Drewe as both someone to envy and detest is likened to the celebrity status of her rock star boyfriend. Tamara quickly becomes the target of two schoolgirls who are both obsessed with the drummer and jealous of Tamara for disturbing the order of things.

The film eases its dark themes with its excellent use of subtle humour. The updated version of one of Hardy's most celebrated novels exposes the reality of a voyeuristic society too concerned with the lives of other people.

Along with Frears excellent direction, the other great strength of this film is its actors with special distinction going to Tamsin Greig. Greig is familiar to the London stage scene while others have played minor roles in big films. Gemma Arteton was one of Bond's muses in the Quantum of Solace. Roger Allam has been equally excellent in Frears academy award winning film the Queen as well as in V for Vendetta.

On one final note, I read one review that argued that the climax just does not amount to much which I personally felt was very misguided. The ending was true to the traditions of Hardy which is what Tamara Drewe is all about.

"Why do I do these things? What am I doing with you?"

Tamara Drewe is a twisty, soap-opera-ish, story about a woman who returns to the small town she used to come home, nose job in tow, and turns the local writing community upside down in the process. 

It's a nice role for Gemma Arterton, with a large supporting cast of Roger Allam, Bill Camp, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Tamsin Greig, Jessica Barden, and others. The story sort of meanders between the various characters, and there's not much of a central theme, other than how Tamara is a bit lost in life and how that plays havoc on the small town she returns to. 

I'd describe it as occasionally amusing, instead of funny. Interesting enough to watch once, but you probably won't be in a rush to see it again.