Peter's Friends

Film starts off on New Years Eve 1982 with a collegiate musical troupe giving their final bad performance. It cuts to 1992 where one of them named Peter (Stephen Fry) invites the whole group to his remote English castle for a New Years Eve party. We have the Andersons--Roger (Hugh Laurie) and Mary (Imelda Staunton). They've lost a child and she lives in fear that they'll lose the other. Then there's Maggie (Emma Thompson) who's madly in love with Peter. There's Sarah (Alphonsia Emmanuel) a sexually active woman who brings along her man of the moment (Tony Slattery). And there's Andrew (Kenneth Branagh) who's unhappily married to TV star Carol (Rita Rudner).

This was called a rip off of "The Big Chill". It is, but it's well-made with a great cast, a wonderful script and is totally involving. This is one of the few movies that mixes drama and laughs and both work beautifully. It was also shot (I believe) on location in England and the setting itself is just incredible. All the acting is good across the board. Rudner is a delight (and has the best lines). Emmanuel sometimes overdoes her role but not enough to damage the film. Dramatic, witty, warm--basically a great comedy drama well worth catching.

"Did you ever see "Upstairs Downstairs"?"

This movie has often been dubbed another rip off of The Big Chill. Except for the whole reunion bit, this movie bears little resemblance to the former. It is funnier, wittier and the characters are more clearly defined.The movie centers around Peter, whose father has just died and left him the house. He decides to have a big party and invite his friends from college that he hasn't seen in years.As it turns out, everyone has their problems. Roger and Mary have just lost a child,Maggie is trying to find a man and has her eye on Peter, who is definitely not interested,Sarah is involved with a married man and seems to have trouble getting involved with anyone who's available,Andrew and his Hollywood actress wife are having marriage problems.This movie is well acted, the script is well written,thanks to Rita Rudner and her husband Martin Bergman and the casting is excellent. Starring Stephen Fry as Peter,Kenneth Branagh as Andrew,Hugh Laurie as Roger,Emma Thompson as Maggie,Alphonsia Emmanuel as Sarah and Imelda Staunton as Mary.With Rita Rudner as Carol.

This film has one of the best 80's soundtracks. It is a feel good movie with a great cast. Some very amusing moments and some sad moments but all in all it features the kind of friends we'd all love to have.

It has been just about ten years since Peter last saw his group of University friends and, after his father died, he has inherited the family manor and decided to throw a reunion party for them. Of his friends, Sarah is still pretty much the same and has brought along her latest lover with her. Andrew has long ago sold out and moved to America where he met his wife Carol. Roger and Mary are married but life lives of quiet panic and worry since the death of one of their twin babies. Maggie meanwhile is so alone that she throws herself into the slightest offer of companionship. The friends come together but the tensions and problems are barely hidden and quickly come out.

Opening with the type of privately educated people that I personally find very difficult to relate to, this film immediately had me on the backfoot and worried thanks to this and the sheer volume of luvvies in the cast. However the film manages to get past this for me because the writing is better than the very basic sitcom-come-melodrama that it is only ever a few steps away from being. It goes just where you expect it to though, and the fact that all the wheels fall off the various friends' lives will not surprise anyone but it is interesting and engaging enough. The sense of humour is quiet upper-class and it is sometimes hard to get into the characters because I did get the impression that they were very aloof but it was still solid enough to keep things moving.

The cast work well and indeed many of them have a background that is similar to their characters (in terms of University I mean, not the personal detail). Fry is good although I must admit not caring much for his character. Branagh does a so-so job as director (nothing particularly special) and also as actor he isn't that good here – his drunk act in particular being weak. Continuing the split responsibilities = weakness trend, writer Rudner is not great in her acting role. Laurie is strong but he is outdone by a convincing little turn from Staunton. Thompson is good even if her character could have been made more of. Emmanuel is good but only shows me how hard it is for black actors to get ahead – she has barely been seen again. Slattery is Slattery and those who like him will like him here – I don't but that is by the by.

Overall this is an engaging film despite the fact that I found the characters hard to like. The story may not be the most inspiring or shocking but it is involving nonetheless and comic if not really funny. A very British affair that is generally well written despite the rather pretentious and aloof material that runs across story, characters and performers.

When I first watched Peter's Friends, I was seventeen years old, still young and unexperienced. I wouldn't say that the five years since then have made me some sort of oracle, but I have made a few mistakes and also a lot of good choices. And even more, I am able to relate to the story that Kenneth Branagh's wonderful alternative to It's A Wonderful Life as a holiday film.

Today it makes me laugh. It makes me embarrassed. It evokes so many feelings that are pivotal for the human spirit, so many things that are universal. If you have friends, or if you've lost them, or if you've met any people at all in your life, you will be able to relate to the six friends in Peter's Friends. What the heck, you only have to be human to relate to it.

No other movie speaks so truly about us as human beings and how we behave in small social groups. Food for thought, but also for heart.