Mother's Day (Jennifer Aniston)

(Amazon UK link)

Another new (to us) film is ‘Mother’s Day’ which we bought for 50 pence in the UK this summer. It was made in 2016 and we had not heard of it; but three of the main actors are well-known: Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, and Kate Hudson. 

The first few scenes introduce a lot of different people, and I found myself somewhat bewildered for the first twenty minutes or so. It wasn’t clear who, if anyone, was the ‘main’ character, nor what the plot was about. It was evidently all pointing towards a celebration of the US holiday ‘Mother’s Day’ (which is in May) and that turns out to be the tentative thread connecting the various groups.

Jennifer Aniston is excellent as Sandy, a woman with two sons. She is divorced from Henry, but they’re still quite amicable… until she learns that he’s married a much younger woman. And this younger woman is surprisingly good with their sons. Her jealousy and anger are sometimes a tad exaggerated, but this film isn't intended to be taken too seriously. 

Peter Pan goes wrong

(Amazon UK link)

We had never heard of ‘The Mischief Theatre Company’, or the film ‘Peter Pan goes wrong’. I doubt if I would have picked it up if I had seen it in a charity shop, but we were given it for Christmas by one of my adult sons. He said he had very much liked it, and thought we would too.

So last night we decided to watch it, with little idea what to expect. It wasn’t until after we’d seen the ‘making of’ extra, and read about it online that I understood that this started as a stage play which was very popular, including a West End season. This film is a TV adaptation, involving David Suchet as the narrator and the play performed in front of a live audience.

The idea is that an amateur dramatic company is going to perform ‘Peter Pan’; we meet them discussing the potential problems, including two cast members who are romantically involved, and one who is extremely nervous, and one who can’t remember his lines… it doesn’t sound very promising.

Then David Suchet starts narrating, reading the opening of JM Barrie’s classic story, and sprinkling - a little dubiously - some glitter. Things start going awry almost immediately as the scene shifts to the Darling family’s nursery. The three young children - played by adults - are out of the spotlight and have to shuffle forward, looking awkward. The tallest of all announces that he is four. The girl playing Wendy tries to get them all in bed, and the person playing the dog Nana gets stuck in a rather large flap in the door.

It doesn’t sound very amusing when written out, and it could have been terrible. But the timing is so good that it works - and we found ourselves laughing aloud more than once, as the scene becomes more and more chaotic. Mr and Mrs Darling are wonderfully exaggerated; the man playing Mr Darling could have been a younger John Cleese, and his wife switches costume rather rapidly to become the housekeeper. That works extremely well and I thought their scene excellent.

When Peter Pan arrives the wires enabling him to fly go wrong and he turns somersaults and crashes into the wall before finally landing - indeed, pretty much everything goes wrong, cleverly choreographed and well executed. I found some of it rather too weird; I’m not a fan of slapstick, and don’t find it funny when people get hurt, but this first part of the play is mostly very amusing.

Then the scene switches to Neverland, after some clumsy attempts at flying, and cast members are duplicated again as pirates, with battles ensuing. I didn’t like this section so much, although the pirate chief (the same actor as Mr Darling) is exaggeratedly excellent. But too many people become hurt, some of them quite badly, and I began to find the fast action and slapstick rather less amusing.

Still, the ending works well with some surprising scenes as the pirate ship breaks loose and can’t be stopped, even if the eventual chaos in the nursery is so appalling as to be disturbing rather than funny.

The rating is PG, which makes sense given the content and the general level of humour, although there are one or two scenes that some parents might baulk at, including one where three characters are seen in their underwear, and another where two others are seen kissing passionately. There are a few references to cast members sleeping together, too, although they would no doubt go over the heads of the very young.

Recommended if you want a light evening’s entertainment and don’t mind a bit of silliness.

Review copyright 2023 Sue's DVD Reviews

My Big Fat Greek Wedding II (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

We decided we had seen enough Christmas films this month, and wanted something light-weight to see. ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding II’ seemed to fit the bill. We saw it in April 2017, which is only three and a half years ago, but since we re-watched the original ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ earlier this year, we thought it would be a good idea to see the sequel before we had forgotten all the characters.

The story takes place a decade or so after the end of the original - and the ending was just a cameo about eight years after the main film. The actors, almost all the same ones from the first film, look around the right age, which makes sense as this film came out fourteen years after the original. 

Toula (Nia Vardalos) remains the star. Nia Vardalos was also the inspiration and writer, growing up, as she did, in a Greek-Canadian family. Toula is happily married to Ian (John Corbett) although they seem to have lost some of their early intimacy… and he finds her family a bit overwhelming at times.

The most important new actress is Elena Kampouris, who plays Toula and Ian’s seventeen-year-old daughter Paris. She is perfect in the role as a teenager who loves her extended family, but is very frustrated by their extreme involvement in her life, and their determination to marry her off to a nice Greek boy, so she can make nice Greek babies. She’s the only girl in her generation - all her aunts and uncles have produced boys, who are growing up just like their grandparents.

However the ‘wedding’ of this film isn’t related to Paris, although we’re probably supposed to think that it will be, in an echo of the first film. Part of the storyline involves her increasing bids for autonomy, as she thinks about college applications and a date for her high school prom. In fact the ‘wedding’ part feels almost like an afterthought - it involves a legal anomaly, and while there’s a lot of preparation, and the event itself, it doesn’t feel like the main focus of the film.

The cast all feel realistic, if somewhat caricatured at times; so much so that we’d forgotten that most of them are not Greek. We were reminded when we watched some of the extras including a documentary about the making of the film. They clearly all bonded so well in the first film that they were happy to work together again a decade and a half later.

I love the way that family life is seen as so important in Greek culture, even if exaggerated in its closeness. Marriages are expected to last, families are expected to support each other no matter what. The contrast of cultures is shown in the American desire for independence rather the opposite of the Greek inter-dependence; despite my own Western European background, I found myself feeling more and more drawn to the mutual supportiveness of Toula's extended family, even if she finds them frustrating at times.

There’s plenty of humour as the film cleverly manages to caricature both Greek and American culture and society - not in an unkind way, but as someone seeing both from the inside. Living in a Greek-speaking country as we do, we could appreciate a lot of the side comments and Greek language jokes that might go over the heads of some - but it’s a film that could be enjoyed by anyone.

The rating is 12 in the UK, PG-13 in the US, which surprised me as I would have expected PG in both. There are sexual references, but they’re quite mild; I don’t recall any ‘strong’ language or profanity, and there’s no violence or anything frightening. The most steamy scene involves a married couple in a car, disturbed before anything much happens. Not that it would be of much interest to children or younger teens anyway.

Definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep)

(Amazon UK link)

Browsing Amazon a while ago, I saw this DVD recommended to me. Reviews, for the most part, were good; in my experience anything starring Meryl Streep is likely to be excellent, and there was the bonus of Hugh Grant. So I put it on my wish-list, and was delighted to receive it (actually the Blu-ray edition) for a recent birthday.

‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ is about a late middle-aged woman - played by Streep - who is clearly not in the best of health. She is loved and protected by her husband who gives monologues in music halls… although we quickly learn that theirs is a rather strange relationship.

The story begins when Florence decides that she wants to take singing lessons again. There are some light-hearted scenes where they interview various applicants for the job of accompanist. The successful candidate, Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helburg), is young and dedicated, and can’t quite believe his good fortune. At least, until the first lesson, when he discovers that Florence’s singing leaves much to be desired…

I had read on the back of the blu-ray that the film is based on a true story. In a way, i wish I hadn’t known that. Part of the bittersweet humour of the film is about the way that everyone conspires to avoid letting Florence know that she really can’t sing. In a fictional setting, with reality suspended, I could have relaxed and probably enjoyed it. As it was, I kept thinking of how awful it would be if - or when - she eventually learned that her loved ones had been deceiving her.

It’s not a film for those with perfect pitch, or who find it painful to hear bad singing. I’m no musician, and I cringed at times. Meryl Streep does a wonderful job portraying Florence; as ever, she takes on the part fully, and the character felt all too flamboyantly real. Hugh Grant, too, while somewhat typecast as her husband, does very well, and Simon Helburg’s expressions as the accompanist are also a delight.

As a film, I’d give it five stars. The pace is good, the story sparkles, and the acting is excellent. But the story itself made me feel uncomfortable, hitting just a tad too close to real situations I’ve come across.

Rated PG in the UK, PG-13 in the US. Some of the implications and conversations are somewhat ‘adult’ although there is nothing explicit. Bad language is minimal and there is no violence; drinking and smoking are commonplace. Based on the content I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under the age of at least twelve.

Review copyright 2017 Sue's DVD Reviews

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (Nia Vardalos)

(Amazon UK link)

Sequels to films can be a disappointment, so I didn’t take much notice when I heard that ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ was being produced. It didn’t even have an original title; we very much enjoyed the first ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’, but I expected that this version would be a pale imitation, or perhaps the same over again.

However, reviews were favourable, so when the DVD became available and the price wasn’t too high, I put it on my wishlist, and was given it for Christmas. We were hoping to see it with our younger son but he hasn’t been around for a while, so last night we watched it with some friends who also liked the first film.

The story involves the same family, but takes place ten years after the epilogue to the first film. Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett) are still happily married, although they don’t see much of each other; their daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) is now 17, and starting to look at university applications. Her grandparents want her to marry a Greek boy, but, like her mother, she wants to be independent and make her own decisions.

The ‘wedding’ in this movie takes place towards the end and turns the story upside down; it’s an amusing twist, although most of the reviews I had read gave spoilers, so I knew it was coming. It didn’t matter, really; the preparations, and the closeness of the Greek family remain amusing, with interludes in the family restaurant, and a couple of episodes where even small children have fun trying to find Greek derivations for words in the English language.

There’s plenty of humour that made us smile, including one or two places where we laughed aloud. Greek culture is clearly caricatured, but so is American culture, and the clashes between the two are shown, although not as obviously as in the first film. And yes, there's much that's a re-hash of what worked so well in the original movie - but we didn't have a problem with that.

It’s a story about marriage, primarily; about the kind of relationship that lasts decades, moving through difficulties and arguments, finding what loyalty and long-lasting love really mean. As such I thought it quite uplifting, in a light-hearted way. Of course some of the scenes are exaggerated, although having lived for nearly 20 years in a country that’s culturally Greek, they’re not as caricatured as some would assume.

It’s also about the balance of culture and freedom, of the empowerment of women, and of the difficulties of letting go of teenagers. But they’re not issues that are pushed; they’re there to be picked up or ignored. The film moves at a good pace, and I found myself quite involved in the family dynamics, oddly disappointed when it ended.

All in all, I thought it was a good film, and pleasant for a relaxed evening’s viewing without too much brain power needed. It helps to have seen the first film, but probably isn’t essential.

Rated 12 (12A in the US) which I think is about right. While there's no nudity or violence, and I didn't notice any bad language at all, there are several suggestive scenes and references, and frank discussions about making babies that would be irrelevant and possibly embarrassing to younger children.

Definitely recommended.

Review copyright 2017 Sue's DVD Reviews