PETER'S FRIENDS
A film review by Michael Stoneheel
Copyright 1993 Michael Stoneheel
After Kenneth Branagh first film several critics compared him to Lawrence Olivier. After his second film he was compared to Orson Welles. What next?
Personally, I liked his first two films. I thought he was an excellent actor but I didn't find any greatness in his directing. Knowing his intention to imitate other films, I expected a British version of THE BIG CHILL.
Actually PETER'S FRIENDS is a mixture of "Thirty Something" and "Are You Being Served?". It is a sentimental dramatic comedy (what a disturbing term) written by Rita Rudner and Branagh concerning a reunion of friends after ten years.
The film begins with several cinematographic experiments. Branagh used home-video photographing style to show the main characters' last meeting at 1982 (he was probably influenced by Woody Allen). This method can irritate the audience, create an authentic atmosphere, and give an impression of another objective character (namely the camera)--none has been achieved!
Afterwards, a sequence of events from the 80's is presented with some documentary effect. The arrival of all the friends to Peter's home could be considered as the only brilliant scene of the film. It is fast, funny, sarcastic and accurate. From this point the film circulates between a tedious melodrama and comedy. Several jokes in the film made me laugh (and it is very difficult during the last years) but some of the gags were used too much (for example, the laughter of Tony Slattery). The sentimental scenes are boring and it would have been better off without some of them.
The only thing left is to expect a good performance from such fine actors, well, forget it! Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton are annoying, Rita Rudner gives the best performance but when we understand it she is gone, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson are reasonably good and Branagh is excellent in the start but soon he becomes too self-conscious with his acting. The main problem is that the actors do not relate to each other. What could have been a perfect ensemble turned to be a complete chaos.
This film is another proof that Branagh hasn't understood the cinema media yet. The script is suitable for television and not for cinema, the casting is not balanced and the cinematography has no effect. The only comfort is that due to Branagh's talent the film is mediocre but not bad!
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