Review of Tamara Drewe (2010) by Michael V — 26 Jun 2011

This is an okay little comedic drama - not great, not bad, but just pleasant enough to merit watching. It was adapted from a graphic novel I've never read, but doesn't seem at all like a graphic novel adaptation. It's really just a small, light-hearted film with great scenery.

The movie is named after Tamara Drewe, the character played by Gemma Arterton, but she's not really the most important character, and certainly not the most interesting or best-developed, but really just the hottest character. Tamara is a formerly ugly girl whom a nose job has apparently turned into a movie star, and who moves back into her sleepy little hometown in the English countryside to sell her house. There, she interacts with some of the neighbors, including a crime novelist and philanderer (Roger Allam, kind of like a seedier Tim Curry) and an earnest, hardworking young fellow (Luke Evans). An American academic, a rock star, and a couple of meddlesome teenage girls also factor into the plot, and one of the teenage girls ends up being the most interesting and sympathetic character in the whole thing.

Gemma Arterton is fine as Tamara, or at least certainly very pretty. The character is honestly kind of flat, though. We never really get access to her thoughts, and her defining characteristic throughout the film remains the fact that she had a nose job. Roger Allam is amusingly slimy as the novelist. Bill Camp was decent as the academic. Dominic Cooper plays a surprisingly quiet guy for a rock star, which is maybe a nice change of pace. Luke Evans's character isn't really developed much beyond his obvious role as an appropriate mate for Tamara. Jessica Barden honestly gives the best performance in the film as the annoying-but-sad 15-year-old-girl.

The movie does have some of the nicest locations ever, admittedly. The English countryside, aided by some fine cinematography, has possibly never looked better in a movie. Watching the film, I felt like the characters all had preposterously cozy lives, and I kind of wanted to just steal their house and lifestyle for myself. It makes for an interesting contrast with the story, too - all of this adultery and deception going on in a Beatrix Potter setting. *Mild spoiler alert but not really* You have to envy Luke Evans's character at the end of the film - if I could live in this place and be dating Gemma Arterton, I think I literally could not ask anything else out of life. The direction by Stephen Frears (who also made High Fidelity and The Queen, among other things) feels relaxed, and the musical score keeps insistently reminding you that the movie is really light-hearted, damn it. You won't regret watching this movie, but it's not the sort of thing that you urgently need to see anytime soon.