A film
review by Peter Bradshaw, for theguardian.com on February 7, 2013.
Dan Mazer is the blackbelt comedy writer
who worked with Sacha Baron Cohen on Ali
G and Borat in their TV and
movie incarnations. Now, as writer and director, he has been set the challenge
of delivering a mainstream Anglo-Hollywood romantic comedy in the classic [Richard] Curtis / Working
Title manner. The result is funny and plausible, with a fair bit of newly
modish Bridesmaids-y bad taste,
though I kept getting the sense that the romantic comedy template
meant Mazer couldn't really let rip with pure comedy pessimism and
cynicism in the way he might have liked.
Rafe Spall and Rose Byrne are Josh and Nat, two intelligent and attractive people
who got married way too quickly: their fundamental incompatibility is now making
itself agonizingly plain, especially as they are clearly attracted to other
people, namely Josh's old flame, Chloe (Anna Faris),
and Nat's dishy American client, Guy (Simon
Baker). Josh's embarrassing best mate (and indeed best man) is Danny,
played by Stephen Merchant, whose
comedy has a heavy [Ricky] Gervaisian residue at odds with the tone of the rest
of the film. There are plenty of laughs, especially from Olivia Colman as a marriage guidance counselor who breaks off
sessions to argue with her husband on her mobile.
Labels:
comedy, romance, satire
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