Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

kikkapi20 Throughly enjoyed this film. The characters married beautifully to such a deliciously scribed plot, and were oh so believable... even the cringe factor worked - when gorgeous Tamara stoops well short (way shorter than her short shorts-geez if only i could pull that look off...) and sleeps with the guy who reminds me of Christopher Hitchens (... nice brain - ah, Hitchens, that is, but shame about the rest...)... and the schoolgirls - oh..the two teenage girls totally carried this movie they were AWESOME !! Anybody who did not enjoy this movie hasn't been around. The various characters - the lecherous writer, the 'put upon' housewife, the rock star and the hotel licensee were fantastically observed characters. I loved it!

Clockwork-Avacado In this day and age of blistering, multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbusters, full of unrealistic emotions, and over the top special effects, and loathsome characters, the small British comedy is definitely on the decline. So, presumably, "Tamara Drewe", a sleepy black little comedy of love and betrayal, should fill a very nice little gap indeed. Sadly, however, someone slipped up along the way, and, whilst it has not too much wrong with it, it's ultimately something of a wasted opportunity, which misses the mark on many occasions.The action all centers upon a small rural community of tired people, in particular, a writer's retreat where an unlikely gang of rather jaded characters assemble. In comes ex-ugly duckling Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton), and things start to hot up soon enough for all concerned.Stephen Frears, a director of some considerable pedigree, described the film as being like a "tragedy, and a comedy". That is true to an extent, because there's nothing incredibly funny, and yet, nothing extremely tragic happening. The comedy is tragic, and the tragedy is comedic. The whole mix has rather been upset by its' having an essentially unlikeable cast of characters, despite there being some decent actors and actresses assembled. It's one of those slightly po-faced dramas which wallows in its' own mundanity, wondering just how dull and "realistic" the whole thing can be. The flip side of this is, for genre fans, it stops the whole thing feeling "cliched". The reality, though, is a rather bathetic, self-indulgent study of some rather weak people.Gemma Arterton is an exceptional actress, perhaps the best "big name" British actress in the world right now, but I'm not sure why she has been cast here. Bereft of her usual quiet charm and wittiness, Tamara Drewe is a very unlikeable personality, who makes a habit of mucking things up for everyone around her. The sad thing is, she behaves like such an idiot, that she doesn't deserve to have a film devoted to her, and she isn't anywhere near decent enough to deserve any measure of happiness, which she gets in an ending, which seems to be the film's only concession to the mainstream.Dominic Cooper, as Ben Sargeant, a typical bad rocker, is enough to ruin the entire film, with a portrayal of the cliché that is so broad and unlikeable, that it's one of those choices which makes you realise just what a total idiot she is. In fact, there seems to be nothing whatsoever appealing about Ben as a character. To be honest, though, if it was anyone else but Gemma Arterton in the role of TD, you could say the same thing about her.The only vaguely likable characters, Bill Camp and British standby Tamsin Grieg, are awash in a sea of scumbags, and are routinely abused until the absurdly realised ending, which, if you stop to think about it, is a cop-out of the first order. Without this convenient herd of deus ex machina, the whole film would have been a very tawdry affair indeed.In the end, though, it's not a horrendous film, just one in which you struggle to find anything to like in it. Four out of ten, for some lovely rural Northern English countryside, for Gemma Arterton's ass, and for Tamsin Grieg and Bill Camp. Nothing you couldn't enjoy individually in much better surroundings. Read the graphic novel, as well. It's at least one and a half times as good as this.(And by the way, the title of this review is an anagram of the titular heroine. The whole way through the movie, I was convinced that "Tamara Drewe" was an anagram of something significant. THis was the best I could get, but at least I was able to use those 106 minutes of my life fruitfully...)

Tweekums I wasn't sure what to expect when I sat down to watch this; I'd read that it was a comic updating of Thomas Hardy's 'Far From the Madding Crowd' and was curious to see how it would be done… even though my knowledge of the original is limited to a television adaptation. In a Dorset village things are about to change; Tamara Drewe is coming home and this once ugly duckling has had a nose job and become a beautiful swan who quickly catches the eyes of local men. These include former boyfriend Andy and married author Nicholas Hardiment, although the man to catch her is visiting rock star Ben Sergeant. The couple are soon engaged to be married but things go wrong when Jody, a jealous school, girl breaks into Tamara's house and sends out an email from Tamara's account inviting Ben, Andy and Nicolas to come round to her house and have sex! As her engagement collapses she falls into the arms of the older man Nicolas; this relationship doesn't last long though as Jody's friend Casey snaps the two of them together and sends it to his wife. As the end approaches the key question is; who will Tamara end up with? She isn't the only person who will get a new man though.I enjoyed this far more than I expected; at first I thought the set up looked like an episode of 'Midsomer Murders' without the murder… but perhaps that isn't a bad thing! Gemma Arteron was a delight as Tamara; I can understand why the men of the village fell for her; especially after seeing her in hot-pants! Other notable performances came from Roger Allam who played Nicolas Hardiment, Tamsin Greig who played his wife Beth and Jessica Barden who played school girl Jody. The story was fun with quite a few laughs and a good set of characters. Some might complain that it is more televisual rather than cinematic but I didn't see that as a problem; I thought the look gave it a pleasantly familiar feel. The story contains nothing too offensive although some may be offended by the swearing and the small amount of fairly innocent nudity.

CountZero313 The idyllic monotony of a Dorset village is disrupted by the return of Tamara, sporting a re-modelled nose, but unreformed distaste for her home town. Her presence revives long-buried passions for handyman Andy, and minted author of "airport fodder" Nicholas, as well as sparking new intrigue for various other inhabitants of the village, including a blocked American writer, and two bored schoolgirls.So who is the film about? Everybody and nobody: don't be mislead by the title into thinking that Tamara will drive the narrative. She is more 'done to' than 'doing', and that is one of the film's main failings - quite why anyone is doing what they are doing remains a mystery, most of all Tamara. She resists the obvious attraction to Andy in favour of a soiled, sneering, effete drummer, and then tops that in the disgust stakes by shacking up with the repugnant chinny Nicholas. The lack of character development means this fails to function as a drama, and it was not till after the film was over and I took a look at the DVD case that I realised they are pushing this as a 'comedy.' I didn't laugh once.The acting is fairly good and Dorset looks nice. The drummer, two schoolgirls, Nicholas and weekend crime novelists are annoying. Andy and Tamara lack depth and never change. Wife Beth and the American writer have some intrigue to them, but their particular romantic tale gets lost in the rest of the twee village rambunctiousness. This story might function well as a village hall amateur dramatic production, but it isn't cinematic. A surprising mis-fire from Frears.