Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

jpclifford I saw this "picture" (you look like a picture) and experienced it as horror or must I say "ghast"? I wrote to the BBC that there seems nothing more fascinating then to witness insanity. I never got an answer. The problem is: Why must this kind of amusement be made public? Is it disdain? Regards.

Chris Holdridge I'd heard a lot of hype about Stephen Poliakoff and the trailer looked great, so I was anticipating something special. The first twenty minutes or so provide a brilliant set-up, and huge credit must go to the set-designers and costume people for incredible visuals.However, the film commits the cardinal sin of not bothering to give you any reason to like the characters. The two leads are stiff and monotonous (how can a man who has a threesome with two nubile blonds and hires thugs to gatecrash his own party be so ditch-water dull as Paul?) whilst the minor characters are given only the briefest of set-up scenes for us to get to know them before being referred to nostalgically for the rest of the film. What are we meant to think - oh yes, the boy we saw for two seconds holding a sparkler, how poignant to think he is now 40 and sitting in a café! Who cares!? Furthermore, there has been a definite decision to avoid the obvious path (I don't want to put a spoiler, but when you see it you'll know what I mean). This path would indeed have been obvious, yes, but it would have given some substance to the film, which is otherwise totally bland.A lack of consistency also pervades the characterisation, and rather than making the characters elusive and mysterious, it just makes them unbelievable. Would a man who has built a huge fortune from nothing be genuinely content to lose it all and live in squalor? Would a brilliant businessman really accept a huge salary to work as a consultant and then, 5 months later, simply utter a one-word plan and be confused as to why anyone thought this was insufficient? If so, why? If we aren't given an insight into his thinking process, all we can assume is that there is no real plan behind his character: he is just a mishmash of whatever dialogue the writer thinks is clever at the time...And if I haven't put you off yet, the final conversation between the two lead characters is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard in a "serious" movie.Friends and Crocodiles scrapes 3 points for the brilliant first 20 minutes and for the sets and costumes throughout, but unless you want a lesson in how not to do it, I really wouldn't bother.

Geoff Mendoza The lavish scenes and multitude of props gave the impression that this would be a first class production but I felt that there was very little story or plot taking place. The main characters took up so much of the time that it was hard to remember who all the other characters were. Perhaps twice we were shown what time period we were in but there were many occasions when I simply didn't know how much further in time the story had moved. If the main leads had aged it might have helped.And where did all those children come from in such a short space of time? What happened to all of Paul's money? What was the purpose of the character who could answer any question (when he clearly couldn't)? Most of the acting was of a high standard but at the end I was left with "So what?"

Rich (freeboprich-1) This is most definitely one of the most affecting dramas I have seen in the past year, both casting and the expertise of the setting and prop crew were flawless. Honestly, I might be credulous, but the intended chronology of the film was exceptionally convincing, it did to an extent make me wish that more detail had been shown about the in-between periods that the narration had passed by, the characters were so intense that I felt pulled in by their stories and anything could have been relevant. It goes without saying that as a fan of Jodhi May as well as of the creator, I had been looking forward to this for some time and there was no disappointment apart from what I already mentioned. On the whole there's more in the way of emotional turbulence than joyful interludes, but the overall message is delightful and has effected me profoundly. My thanks to all involved.