This film was like one of those recipes that has all the right ingredients but just does not turn out well when the dish is cooked.
It is interesting to see an examination of a theme such as the father son relationship. But this no modern Turgenev instead it owes more to soap than the classics.
What went wrong? Well not much except for the script and the acting. Jim Broadbent did his best with the thin material. But Juliet Stevenson as his wife was very wooden and unconvincing. Finally turning to Colin Firth we have an actor in danger of turning into a parody of himself where far away looks and an inability to commit become as much his signatures as Hugh Grants foppish Englishman.
All in all a piece of unconvincing saccharin mush.
It is interesting to see an examination of a theme such as the father son relationship. But this no modern Turgenev instead it owes more to soap than the classics.
What went wrong? Well not much except for the script and the acting. Jim Broadbent did his best with the thin material. But Juliet Stevenson as his wife was very wooden and unconvincing. Finally turning to Colin Firth we have an actor in danger of turning into a parody of himself where far away looks and an inability to commit become as much his signatures as Hugh Grants foppish Englishman.
All in all a piece of unconvincing saccharin mush.