In recent years there has been a lot of press coverage regarding appalling feature films which have been funded by the National Lottery in the UK. Dozens of movies, made only because they have been supported by lottery grants, have flopped spectacularly at the British box office. Writer-director Steven Poliakoff's 'Food of Love' is one such film. It displays all that is wrong with the British movie industry. Why was such a boring, badly scripted, uncommercial film like this EVER financed? It's almost like Film Four wanted to make produce an uninteresting, unprofitable, unfunny movie. Well, they certainly succeeded.
'Food of Love' is chock-a-block full of mawkish dialogue, poor characterisation and tiresome acting mixed with an implausible storyline. It is nothing short of appalling. The normally brilliant Richard E. Grant is annoying and far too self-aware of his sub-standard performance; veteran actress Sylvia Sims is totally wasted and the rest of the cast are abysmal. None of the characters have any sort of real motivation for how they behave. At one point, one member of the cast buries his personal computer in a field (for no reason at all), then later regrets what he's done! It makes no sense.
The film's finale is awful, but it comes as a blessed relief. I would challenge anyone to actually enjoy this movie. It's just dull, self-indulgent, middle-class pretentious clap-trap and Poliakoff should be ashamed of himself.
