Customer Reviews

An Awfully Big Adventure

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is an excellent film, moving, sad, even tragic. It is NOT a "warm hearted comedy," as it says on the back of the DVD. And it certainly is not "hilarious". The blurb on the cover is quite possibly the most misleading I have ever come across. Despite that, it is a lovely film. It is a solid, serious British drama, with an excellent all round cast. The humour where present is decidedly low key. Its predominant mood is one of sadness and loss, there is warmth to be sure, but certainly not what is projected on the cover or in the trailer. One wonders why the publicists chose to so misrepresent such a fine film. Was it because they were worried its serious and even dark nature would put off the popcorn munchers? Perhaps it would have been better if they had. Then we wouldn't have been saddled with so many negative reviews from viewers who naturally felt short-changed. Then again, this is not a movie that American audiences would readily take to.

Set in 1947, it tells the story of a 16 year old girl, Stella (Georgina Cates), abandoned at birth by a wayward mother and brought up by her aunt and uncle, who aspires to join the Theatre. Into this milieu she willingly plunges herself. She encounters sordid seedy characters. She takes on menial tasks without pay. She embraces all with a gushing eager naivete. She falls for the stage director (Hugh Grant) who in her young innocence she doesn't realise actually has a preference for boys. She then latches on to an aging Lothario (Alan Rickman) who does appreciate young girls. In this darkness in which she finds herself, past and present intersect. The absent mother she faithfully places a call to everyday, the same mother who gave her away years ago, becomes the silent confidant of her hopes and fears. The aging Rickman character constantly pines for his own past even as he happily deflowers the young girl. The stage director's sordid history of seducing and then spurning young men finally comes to a head. All combine to create an air of loss and decay. A nice touch was the use of a lone flute playing "The Last Rose Of Summer" whenever the Rickman character thinks back to his lost love. If you know the song, it perfectly encapsulates the mood of this movie. And yes there is a twist at the end, but if you have been paying attention, it won't come as too much of a shock. Although the prudes and the self-righteous will as usual recoil in moral outrage.

New Line Entertainment has given us a fine if bare-bones DVD. The film is transferred in it's original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (enhanced for widescreen TV). Picure quality is good, clean and clear with natural warm colors. Black levels are just right. Audio includes the original stereo plus both DTS and Dolby 5.1 remixes. Excellent presentation. There are even optional English subtitles for people who can't get round the British accents. Thank goodness not everybody makes sanitized, Hollywood dross.

I highly recommend this excellent adaptation of Bainbridge's dark, quirky novel. Georgina Cates plays the starstruck Stella with exactly the right combination of yearning naivete and matter-of-fact aloofness. Alan Rickman is mesmerizing as legendary actor O'Hara and happily is able to attract great sympathy during what might otherwise easily be regarded as a grotesque courtship of the teenage actress. And Hugh Grant as the odious Meredith is an extremely convincing villain - it's hard to imagine more of a departure from his usual endearing mumbler, but he pulls off this role with great aplomb. Warning: focusing as it does on a young girl's loss of innocence and the unglamorous underbelly of theatre, this film is for mature audiences only.

The actors in this movie are what drew me to it. Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman are two of my favorite performers. To see them in a movie about the theatre, well I couldn't resist.

The film starts out as a lovely coming-of-age film about a young woman's first experience in theatre.

What it turns into about two thirds of the way through is a sad, sordid tale of incest, suicide and denial. It's as if the writers suddenly started smoking something while they were trying to finish the script.

The performances in the film are worth sitting through it. Georgina Cates who plays Stella, the central character, is quite good.

Alan Rickman is wonderful as always as the dashing matinee idol on his way to being washed up.

The great delight is Hugh Grant as a snotty, prissy summer stock director. It's probably the most over-the-top I've seen him and I loved it.

I was surprised to see this listed as a comedy, but not sure where else you'd put it. It's a tough movie to pin down.

Not a movie for everyone, but it is a guilty pleasure for those of us who would watch Alan Rickman read the phone book.

I first saw An Awfully Big Adventure on TV at two o'clock in the morning. It made very little sense, and I couldn't understand about a third of what was being said, but the movie still, as another reviewer succinctly put it, "hijacked my consciousness." It was subtle, honest, unforgiving, amazingly well-acted, and a lot of other good things that I can't find the words for right now.

I recently purchased a copy of the video, and realize now that while it loses nothing upon further viewing, An Awfully Big Adventure benefits greatly from a second watching. The dialogue becomes clearer the more you listen to it and the nuances of the characters and the story become more pronounced. Even though my first reaction to the film was favorable, I still think that one cannot judge this movie fairly after only seeing it once (although if you enjoyed it the first time, you probably will again). I have a feeling that nearly all of the reviews here are by first-time watchers, and while you shouldn't entirely discredit their remarks, keep in mind that, like most complex movies, An Awfully Big Adventure only gets better the more you watch it.

I also feel that it cannot be stressed enough that this is not a happy, uplifting movie. "Disturbing" is a word used often to describe it, but the word that comes to my mind is "uncomfortable." There's really nothing at the end of the film to redeem all of the sadness, as is common in most movies. Thus, if you don't like to watch depressing movies, DON'T WATCH AN AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURE. And if you're an Alan Rickman or Hugh Grant fan (both of whom are great) and insist upon seeing it, don't write a review that discourages others from watching it just because it was too dark for your tastes.

*I haven't read the novel of the same title by Beryl Bainbridge, but I've heard that it helps to clarify the confusing points in the movie, besides being a good book. Just a thought...

First and foremost, I want to state that this is NOT a comedy. The summary on the back of the box, describing it as "hilarious," "warmhearted," and so forth, reads as though it was written by somebody who never saw the movie. It is about as much of a comedy as Hamlet is a go-kart race.

That said, it is a super film. Set in 1947, the story centers on sixteen-year-old Stella Bradshaw, who has lost her mother in the war and lives with her aunt and uncle. Stella joins an amateur theatre company and falls instantly in love with the company's slimeball of a director, Meredith Potter. It doesn't take long for her to be lured into the milieu's seedy underbelly, and eventually she has her first (and second and third...) sexual encounter with P.L. O'Hara, star of the company's production of "Peter Pan".

The end of the movie will certainly be found disturbing and/or sad by most (hence my omission of the fifth star in rating the movie), but it's still worth watching - most likely more than once, so you can start to fill in the details you might have missed before. (There's a whole lot of information packed into this plot, and it's very easy to let stuff slip by!)

The cast, of course, is wonderful. Georgina Cates is well cast as Stella, and very pretty too. Her characterization of the shy, unsure-of-herself girl is engaging and well thought out. (She looks about twelve until a scene where we see her topless. Then the illusion is pretty much shattered.) Alan Rickman, as P.L. O'Hara, is great as usual. The big surprise here for me was Hugh Grant's performance as Meredith Potter. He is actually playing a character here - and a nasty one at that. That alone is worth watching the movie! The supporting cast is terrific as well. It was fun to see such first-rate actors bringing such life to such teeny roles (for example, Edward Petherbridge, who has all of approximately fifteen seconds onscreen).

To sum up, An Awfully Big Adventure - though certainly disturbing in places - is an awfully good film.

Oh, my. This film is eye candy for Rickman fans, but the ending might disturb some. I was captivated by this film, rather as one is glued to the tube, watching, with fascination, plane crashes and train wrecks. Although the film is a fine ensemble work, with excellent performances all around, the fulcrum is Rickman's character, O'Hara. That's not a surprise, as Alan Rickman draws focus in any role he takes on. In this odd film, Rickman's character goes from the cat-bird seat to his own little Hell, and it's no surprise that this gifted actor brings so much humanity and range to the part. Many days after seeing the video, I'm still haunted by O'hara, especially the first bedroom scene where he has a brief laughing fit. I deem any film that highjacks my consciousness like that a success. This film's success is 98% due to the the fine acting of Alan Rickman.

This is another in a long line of films I have viewed solely to enjoy Alan Rickman's performance, and what a performance; but more about that later.

Having read all the Amazon reviewers' comments and a multitude of professional critics' articles I was still unable to get a sense of this film. The plot was somewhat clear, some reviewers having given away the ending (shame on them and what a shame), but the true atmosphere of the film still eluded me. Frankly, I couldn't convince myself this was a film I would enjoy. Having now viewed this unusual but very interesting film, I find that nothing prepared me for what it truly was about and what it had to offer as real entertainment.

Lest I reveal more of the plot than I intend, I will instead stick mostly to my point and say that Alan Rickman is an actor of absolutely unbelievable talent. I say this after every film; he selects the widest range of roles of any actor, and he never gives a less than perfect + performance. His Captain Hook and O'Hara are sublime characters. He looks fantastic in both roles, of course. Again we get to see him dance, not the tango this time, but variety is the spice of his work. The love scenes, and I feel comfortable identifying them as 'love', because his character displays a sense of love despite his shallow nature; and also exhibits a desperate need for love that would be difficult to believe in this particular character if it were portrayed by a lesser actor. His comic reactions have perfect timing and his emotional reactions display feelings that overwhelm and pale the efforts of every other character in the film. This is a considerable feat because this film offers an usual, but solid, performance by Hugh Grant; a side of his talent I had not previously seen and which proved very intriguing. Georgina Cates as Stella, the naive young girl struggling to find both herself and her past, is flawless. She wears her feelings as open as a book on her sweet young face and states her thoughts as directly (and comically) as any adolescent innocent would. Apparently it is like learning the ukulele.

This film is not a comedy; if it were not British, there probably would have been no humor at all. The British it seems have a way of inserting their own manner of dry wit and humor into the most serious of situations without ever losing their direction. Perhaps I have been viewing too many English films of late; as I had no trouble with the accents and understood every word clearly.

There are other reviewers here who have certainly bested my efforts at describing Rickman's attraction in this film, as I think unfortunately my statements certainly fail to do justice to the work he does in 'An Awfully Big Adventure'. I continue to owe him thanks for the unusual scope of entertainment genres I have explored just because I am so awed by his abilities and do not want to miss of minute of an opportunity to watch him work. Others also have provided more of the plot and I too have fallen short of explaining the true nature of the film. All I am left to hope for is that I can encourage any fans of Rickman's or movie-lovers who enjoy the unusual, and who have not yet viewed this film, to get themselves a copy of this rare video and see just what the 'awfully big adventure' is truly all about. I think you will be awfully glad you did.

I'd have to concur with many of the reviewers here in their thoughts of this film. I started with certain expectations because of the film adverts. As often happens when a film already has a form in your mind, I had trouble with the lack of synergy between what was described and what I viewed. Had no one said anything but this is a foreign film full of quircky characters and a non-formulaic plot, I'd have enjoyed the first viewing much more. The actors are completely brilliant and if you accept their characters with all their quircky and often sad flaws, this film is more of a tragedy with a cast of eccentric (and often very funny) characters. After setting aside and coming back to it, I found I really enoyed this movie. And it's true, each viewing seems to show another layer or has me focus on another character. Rickman's performance is stellar...no pun intended. :-) And incredible that a woman the age of (rumor has it) at least 30+ if not 40's) was able to carry off the role of the very affecting Stella.
I love Hugh Grant's character who appears to be the 'bad guy' but finally you're left wondering if he didn't just speed along the inevitable. He's still a bit of a conundrum, because he's surely written to be unlikable but is that a challenge to the moviegoer to see past the veneer, or is the veneer all their is...hmm... Oy I'm getting dizzy. :-)
I really think this rates high in the quicky foreign film category and perhaps not quite an Ameilie but certainly had it been marketed more in that vein the right audience and movie would have found each other!
I'd only recommend this movie to those that like the unusual films that are to the left of the main shelves kind of buried in the back row and you love making that great gem of a find that you feel like no one knows about! :-) Hope this helped a bit with making a decision about buying it. It's available in VHS formate for a bit less, especially used, if you're having trouble with the commitment to the DVD price. Happy viewing!

Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant are spectacular in this film. It's a dark, tragic comedy for those of us with a dry sense of humor. Many reviewers, I've noticed don't think this film funny at all, but there are amusing bits if you enjoy dark humor. This film, taking place in the 1940's, deals with the inner-workings, the darker side if you will, of the theater buisness. Stella (Georgina Cates) is a naive young girl trying to make her way in the buisness. She quickly falls in love with Meredith Potter (Hugh Grant)and begins her journey in the industry. This film deals with love, sex, death, alcoholism and much more. Any fan of Alan Rickman will certainly enjoy his superb acting in the film, same goes for Hugh Grant fans. This is an excellent addition to your dvd library.

I love this eccentric film. Alan Rickman is wonderful (his voice sends shivers down my spine), and Hugh Grant is superb. When this film is on TV, I always find myself entranced by it. WARNING: It's not for the faint-hearted. It is quite dark and disturbing. Some of the scenes can be a bit revolting for some. You need to have an open-mind--it's certainly not for everybody. But if you have a quirky taste in films, go with this one!