Review of Tamara Drewe (2010) by Georgebailey — 01 Jan 2012

Other than a general tendency not to want to pan a movie entirely, I'm not sure what I'm giving it 4 for. The majority of the characters were uniformly unpleasant, the quantity of swearing off-putting (though that's how we know it's a Brit comedy I suppose) and the general themes rather over-worked and reworked without humour. Tamsin Greig's Beth was just about worthy, though coming across so down-trodden it was difficult to feel very much sympathy, even in the face of Nicholas' infidelity and insufferable smugness (something Roger Allam does very well). Arterton's Drewe is just plain colourless. Whilst the camera loved her curves, there was little else on show: no motivation, no sympathy, no humour.

Comparisons with Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd are obvious, but unworthy, and the fact that it was based on a graphic novel is no excuse for cartoon characters that are spiked with inhumanity, rather than leavened with humanity.