Customer Reviews

Grown Ups

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This movie has gradually crept to the top of my Mike-Leigh favorites list. Overall it is a positive, sometimes funny, sometimes agonizing movie with a number of scenes and tics (the male neighbor's throat-clearing in particular) that stick in my mind. Philip Davis is a not-too-bright dishwasher married to Leslie Manville, the backbone of the marriage. The realistically-quirky people with whom they interact are Brenda Blethyn, her frequently-visiting sister who is going downhill slowly and painfully, two neighbors, and a friend of Manville. How the husband and wife deal with the strains caused by relatives and neighbors illumines the ultimate importance and strength of the nuclear family that Leigh has approached from different directions in Life is Sweet, Secrets and Lies, and even Meantime. The movie's modest scope is a large part of its offbeat charm.

This superbly acted film by English director Mike Leigh ("Naked") is a bleakly funny slice-of-life tale about two couples mired in somewhat depressing routines. Manville and Davis are delightfully dour as a bickering couple trying to decide whether or not to have a baby, while Kelly and Duncan's moribund, dysfunctional relationship is alternately hilarious and gut-wrenching to observe. But the film's greatest asset is Blethyn, whose showstopping meltdown on the Butchers' staircase is the work of a champion actress--one fully in touch with the depths of despair. "Grown Ups" is a sweetly madcap gem for the feeble-minded fussbudget in all of us.

I don't want to sound like I'm patronising your reviewer 'displacedhuman' but I found his/her concise review of Mike Leighs GROWN UPS quite superb. I watched this play in disbelief in the late 1970s when it was first televised on the BBC. When they repeated it in the early 80s I taped it on Betamax (RIP)! Then when my Betamax recorder finally expired I had the tape transferred to VHS. This is without doubt, the funniest, darkest and most touching of all Mike Leighs films. All the actors are superb, but Brenda Blethyns performance is stratospheric. AT LAST it's on DVD !! Goodness knows what anyone who isn't British will make of it, but try it, you just might like it too.

I remember watching this along time ago.... In a couple of Weeks i will own it on Dvd.....The Story goes there is a New couple that move into a New house, Only to have the Sister in-law calling round EVERY DAY...Until the Brother in-law had enough and throws her out..Just like a Woman she SCREAMMS the street down..With this the Sister in-law Is then Chase into the Neighbours house ((Who just happened to been there old school teachers))The comedy Really starts there, You will witness a tug of war between the new Couple and Teachers, as They all end up on the Stairs with the Sister in-law holding onto the stair rail for dear life, With her sister and brother in-law (New couple) trying to get her out of the Neighbours House....If you got a good sense of Humour and want a GOOD OLD FASHION BRITISH FILM, then BUY THIS..!!! Promise u will Laugh..!!!

I grew up in England and can totally relate to this film. I'd recommend it to anyone who knows what it's like to 'pop round' for a cup of tea. It's another dark yet hillarious Mike Leigh movie. Don't buy this movie if you are looking for light hearted humour and a happy ending.