Review of Cemetery Junction (2010) by Simon C — 16 Apr 2010

Cemetery Junction takes us back to the 1970s replete with the Ford Cortina, The Osmonds and the already knackered Council estate with dodgy wallpaper and grandma watching telly.

This is a predictable rites of passage story about three young mates from the same neighbourhood going in very different directions. Its cutesy scenes with the friendly cop were probably the only ones that did not replicate my memories of life in flared jeans.

The plot itself starts off well with Freddie working as a life assurance salesman for a company owned by Mr Kendrik (Ralph Fiennes). Towards the end when he rejected the boredom of office life for a trip round the world (with the girl) I had switched off. The concept is simple and tedious, and was telegraphed a long time before the end of the movie. At times the pace of the movie seems to stutter to a pause while mother pours a cup of tea. Sadly the script could have been tightened up to reduce the repetition of its own jokes.

The script is as expected from Gervais and Merchant acutely observant of the era and full of gags and choice scenes. However, the schoolboy humour begins to wear after a while. Whether this extends to being a fully fledged is questionable.

By the end the boy from the council estate gets the girl from the mansion. Have we been here before? What was more touching was the other boy who began to let go of his anger and forgive his dad. This moment of redemption was prematurely cut so we see the third mate show his girl his tattoos.