An Awfully Big Adventure

The likely reason people don't like this film is because it was released by Miramax who are infamous for mis-marketing their tough sell pictures ("Muriel's Wedding" was a feel good, laugh a minute romantic comedy? "Captives" was a thriller!). This movie isn't a sweet coming of age story. It's a devastating account of a young woman's loss of innocence in a cruel world.

I tend to really like the movies most people find too depressing. Like the ancient Greeks I find human tragedy the greatest form of emotional catharsis. If you are the same way I recommend this film highly.

Young stage-struck Stella (Georgina Cates) has bright dyed red hair and lives with her aunt and uncle (Rita Tushingham and Alun Armstrong, both very good) in run-down Liverpool. She joins a theatre group where she isn't required to do very much and develops a crush on vain director Meredith (Hugh Grant, better than usual) and a half-contempt for the other members of the company (including a wicked parody of the professional ham from Edward Petherbridge). When flamboyant actor PL O'Hara (Alan Rickman, excellent) arrives to play Captain Hook in a new production of Peter Pan, his fate becomes entangled with Stella's in a way neither of them could have predicted. This movie veers from a sharp set of character studies of provincial theatre to a weird and twisted love story with a tragic resolution. Aside from the main story, there are two lovely support roles for Prunella Scales and Peter Firth. The one problem in the cast is Cates, whose background was in TV sitcom and it shows.

"An Awfully Big Adventure" is a story of a naive 16 year old girl, wonderfully played by Georgiana Cates, and her interaction with the members of a bottom-of-the-line stock company in 1947 Liverpool. The Liverpool actors are lead by an incredibly nasty, chain-smoking homosexual director, played by Hugh Grant in what may have been the best performance of his career. Their star, "Perhaps the best Captain Hook ever," is played by Alan Rickman in yet another stellar performance. This is a consistently entertaining but very, very cynical coming of age story. Thus, it may not be for all tastes. Nevertheless, I recommended it highly, 8 out of 10.

Whatever you do, do not-I repeat, do not watch An Awfully Big Adventure with your father. Gents, do not watch this movie with your daughter. I don't care if one of your greatest childhood memories is going to see Peter Pan with your dad, or if both of your favorite actor is Alan Rickman, don't watch it together. You will be so sorry, but spoilers prevent me from telling you why.

I rented this movie thinking it would be fantastic. Released the same year as Sense and Sensibility, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant team up again in a film about a theater troupe and its eccentricities. Coming from a theatrical family and having spent my fair share of time in that world as well, I always like watching movies that depict it accurately. Georgina Cates stars as the young ingenue in search of connection and a mature role model. She joins a theatrical production of Peter Pan, but she soon learns that theater people aren't any more well-adjusted than she is. She first develops a crush on the director, Hugh Grant, but he's not very nice and isn't interested in her at all. Alan is far nicer to her, and she winds up in his bed instead.

The acting in this movie is very good. If you don't have a daughter, or if you don't have Daddy-issues, and you love dark movies with good acting, you'll probably like this one. Georgina Cates, a newcomer to the big screen, truly embodies the lost, emotionally wounded qualities of her character. Hugh Grant deviates from his usual screen persona, and his snippy, cold delivery is very convincing. Alan Rickman, who's always great, puts so much into this role. Playing an "actor" stepping into a small production and making an impression on a youngster, while showing the audience that he's not worthy of her hero worship, takes a lot of nuances during every scene. His performance is flawless, but the story might be too upsetting for you to want to watch.

The story is extremely dark, but as it's set amidst a theatrical background, it's very good. It feels like it could have been adapted from a classic opera, and I'm almost tempted to read Beryl Bainbridge's original novel. If you've never seen either Hugh or Alan in a film, or you really like them, you might not want to rent this one. Stick with Sense and Sensibility instead, since it also has great acting and a good story, and it's not upsetting. Hopefully this movie won't ruin Peter Pan for you, but chances are you won't forget it as long as you live.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to nudity, graphic sex scenes and upsetting subject matter involving a child, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

I've been curious about this movie for a long time. I finally saw it on IFC.

It was great! In this age of VERY expensive, predictable, committee-approved "art", I was relieved to watch this story unfold. Although I suspected early on about the relationship between Cates and Rickman's characters, it's execution was much better than the usual pap that pretends to be a surprise or twist.

Or even interesting.

The real twists in this story, was its own mirror of the real human forces and decisions that keep some of the sweetest, and unfortunately, worst stories going on. The twists were the tiny reasons why such things, sometimes painful and abhorrent to our collective cultural sense of what's right and decent in a society, to continue within it.

The hypocrisy of denying that these dark parts of ourselves exist often cause them to continue. Often times, the self-appointed moral-police of our culture make this inevitable in their pursuit of human frailty, the aftermath of its hunt, and the white-washing of the events (and non-events) they discovered.

No character represented total evil, good, decadence or purity, including Stella. She had as much (subtle) emotional weaponry with her, as she had emotional scars.

Many Americans don't like, or have been trained (over time) to not have patience for such imperfect main-characters in fiction anymore. The one-dimensional, mass-marketed character, is the norm here now.

That's sad. Because of that, this movie (and others like it) didn't do very well here.

Having this story take place within the entertainment industry is an excellent way of displaying so much of the world's human tragedy AND stupidity being covered up by some people's treachery, some people's nobility, or a combination of both.

And even at the end of this tale, all of the stage crew, like life itself, executed their own particular versions of the adage, "The show must go on."

No perfect hollywood story here, with it's base and stupid doling out of come-uppance of everyone's flaws...or Evil.