Elephant Juice

This is a relationship movie set in London, involving a group of twenty somethings. There is the obligatory 'gay' couple, the philanderer with the stunning wife, the shy boy etc.

Although, this is not a bad film, in the current crop of 'Brit Flicks' it makes a change to see something other than a gangster movie.

That said, however, this film does not linger too long in the mind. The performances from an international cast is passable but this is a curious point in the story, why have we got an international cast for a very British film?

This is one that will not doubt be well received when it comes to TV.

I'll make this short and sweet. You will not like, empathise, root for or understand any of the characters in this pointless little London-based drama. They have the combined depth of a paddling pool. It's produced by the team who made 'This Life' for the BBC -- I never saw that show, but if it's anything like Elephant Juice... I'm glad I missed it. Avoid.

A questioning and sometimes slightly cynical commentary on love and sex and life. The ambling storyline cleverly ties together a likeable group of characters. Makes a nice change to see a film set in London on British streets with British buses and British people. 'Elephant Juice' looks like 'I love you' to a lip-reader. Go see this movie.

The bit I liked about this was that it was completely different from the rest of the movies where there's a group of friends which the movie revolves around.

In movies like Notting Hill and others everyone in the group is a wonderful person with little or no flaws, not to mention wise and sage. I like in Elephant Juice that some of the people are unpleasant, but not completely unpleasant, but have more human characteristics than the average soft focus, warm fuzzy rubbish that we usually get served up by movie makers.

A film so bad Miramax decided to not release it in the states? In the UK shows like This Life had developed a following and others rushed to try and surf the wave. And this movie feels like a failed attempt at this venture, despite ticking many of the This Life boxes. Follow a group of university graduates now in high level jobs but struggling with adult life? Check. A white cast but with at least one member being ethnic? Check. Another gay? Check. A soundtrack featuring trendy at the time dance music? Check. Oh and add an ex This Life cast member to the line up. Check. More about her later.. With these types of movies, whether they are watchable for an audience is whether they like the characters. And in this case its very hard to, its also difficult to see how any of them could be friends in the first place.

This is a standard group of friends but some are in relationships with each other but are they cheating with other friends scenario. Its set in London and is very middle class and boring. Its a very unremarkable production, the pacing is slow and the characters simply grate. The worst being Danielle Nardini who for some reason only seems to play smug feminists who sneer at men for the entire time she is on the screen while spouting out put downs to men who for some odd reason seem to be interested in her romantically. She isn't even particularly easy on the eye so it all comes across as some kind of "strong independent woman" fantasy. Treat men like something stuck to your shoe and they will all come running. As if.

And of course the underlying message of the movie seems to be despite our qualifications and high paying jobs we really don't know what we are doing in life. Well the problem is, the majority of the audience won't really care. Who cares about the problems of the well off? Particularly when they aren't even interesting problems and you don't like the people. There is also a silly side story about a hot single mother and one of the characters, a highly qualified scientist no less, falling for her. Another "as if" moment, we are supposed to believe such a highly educated guy would choose a single mum who works in a cafe and think she was "out of his league".

The score and soundtrack are also terrible, the tracks simply do not fit the mood of the movie and are particularly jarring at key points in the narrative. This is only of interest if you want to see what Nardini did next after This Life, I have no idea why anyone would want to however, unless you thought she was somehow cool in the 90's. There are much better 90's UK movies out there, this should be at the bottom of your watching list.