Losing Gemma

Why bother writing about such an obvious pile of crap? I consider my down time to be very valuable and as such am affronted by such made-for-TV tat eating up precious hours of my life.

It opened promisingly: the independent, inexplicably moody girl looking out for ditsy blonde on their big trip to the subcontinent as blonde gets the girls into more trouble than they bargained for. Mysterious fellow befriending them but turning out to be quite sinister. Even when the chick turns up dead there are possibilities for a Bangkok Hilton-type nail-biter, but no such luck: the acting is *woeful*, the characters bounce around in a series of inexplicable and unrelated incidents, the plot has more holes than a colander and the ending...

If, like me, you find yourself in front of the TV one night wondering whether to bother staying up for the end, I'm here to save you the agony. It really, really, really isn't worth it. The ending could only be less satisfying if it involved a sing-along in cowboy costumes. What a waste of a gorgeous set and a perfect opportunity to produce something decent. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I have read this book a few times and each time i found it hard to put down because of its utter brilliance!! How disappointed I was when i excitedly sat down to watch it on t.v. I have never seen such a load of rubbish. The acting in it was just terrible, card board cut outs could have done a better job, the characters were all wrong and the story line was completely different to the actual book. What a terrible, terrible mistake they made, sticking to the actual story would have done them the world of good although still the acting would have been poor. What a waste of time watching that was and i strongly advise that if you have read the book DO NOT WATCH THE TV MOVIE!!!!!

I was surprised to see such low ratings for this ITV drama. While not brilliant it is not at all bad. When two tourists meet creepy Zac, played brilliantly by Jason Flemyng, I thought another 'Bankok Hilton' type drama was to unfold. Well, although a prison did feature in a small way the story went down a different road. Alice Eve as sensible Esther and Rachel Leskovac as the ditzy blonde both played their parts well leading to a decently entertaining couple of hours.

Having just sat through 3 hours of Losing Gemma, I am pretty close to losing the will to live. To say this sorry piece of Drama was bad would be like saying St Christopher liked a trip or two. Where do you start, let's begin at the script or should I say where did a script begin. quite simply the worst piece of writing I have ever encountered .The writers must have had at least 95% of there Brain cells removed before the first word had been written. The actors next, well you know the how you feel when you relieve the most embarrassing moment in your life, how you inwardly cringe when you remember every moment of that nightmare! Well this is how the actors will feel when they have to do interviews in the future and probably will pray to God they can ask there agents to leave it off their C.V. when going for new jobs. I could go on, but I will sum up "Losing Gemma" by saying that this drama should be a pre-requisite in all future terrorist interrogations, Just threaten them with having to sit through this will I am sure have those prisoners spilling there guts before the TV is turned on. File under "Movies for Morons"

I was looking forward to seeing 'Losing Gemma' as I had read the book a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. However, typical ITV messed it up! Alice Eve, who played Esther, wasn't too bad although her accent veered in and out. The actress playing Gemma was so annoying that if I was on holiday with her, I could quite easily lose her on the first day and never want her back! Jason Flemyng hammed it up as the creepy Zac and Jonas Armstrong was OK in a fairly undemanding role as Gemma's ex-boyfriend Steve.

Esther and Gemma meet in a nightclub through a mutual friend who is supposed to be going to India with Gemma. When the friend breaks her leg and can't travel, Esther steps in to accompany Gemma. The first part was genuinely unsettling as the pair meet Zac and Gemma and are invited on a boat trip with them. Esther is suspicious of the couple, but Gemma, presumably being more naive, doesn't share her suspicions.

All the characters are rather one-dimensional - Esther is whiny, Gemma is loud and annoying, Zac is creepy, Steve is shouty. It is hard to care about Gemma's fate and you can see the twist coming a mile off! I think a screen adaptation of 'Losing Gemma' could make a great TV or film drama, unfortunately, this was not it!