Tamara Drewe (2010)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Excellent but underrated film

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Being only able to give Tamara Drewe just two cheers makes me feel oddly churlish. It has a great cast and the ensemble does well and the setting is great (though a little worse weather, even a few duller days, would have made the rural setting rather more truthful - friends we really don't get that much sunshine in Old Blighty, not even in Hardy's Dorset). So why my reservations?Well, I think it has to do with the fact that the film is based 'on a graphic novel' that was, I think, in turn based on a newspaper strip cartoon. And there's the rub: you can get away with a great deal more in a cartoon than you can in straight film (which, after all is what Tamara Drewe is). In the graphic novel I'm sure the story made perfect sense in that it doesn't really have to make a great deal of sense. But on film? Hmm.The set-up is promising enough, but as the film goes on it doesn't really hang together all that well. You can't have it both ways: either the characters, especially Tamare Drewe herself, behave naturalisticaly or they don't. But they can't do both. I can accept Tamara falling for the crass drummer, but wholly inexplicable is why she later goes on to bed the narcissistic middle-age philandering crime novelist. And that man's wife might be gullible, but surely to goodness outside of a graphic novel no one is that gullible. Another character who is more at home in the graphic novel is the free- loving barmaid at the local pub. And exactly what role she plays in the whole set-up is none to clear.Having said that, Tamara Drewe is a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes, but it might have been even more pleasant had the producers decided to make of it a different animal entirely. Merely providing a film version of the graphic novel doesn't really cut it. Shame.

The current IMDb rating is harsh, and inaccurate. Whilst the film might be messy in structure or focus, it always remains entertaining and even emotional.The graphic novel that this film is adapted from is a modernisation/ comic variation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel, Far From The Madding Crowd, and for fans of the novel, it's particularly entertaining to see how they took elements of the novel and transposed them to the modern day. In this film, the beautiful cosmetically-enhanced Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to her home town, where she was the ugly duckling. She becomes torn between farmer Andy (Luke Evans), whom she had a fling with in her teens, and rock star Ben (Dominic Cooper). Andy is of course the equivalent of sturdy farmer Gabriel Oak and Ben is the equivalent of dashing Seargeant Troy. The updating works quite well, particularly in the case of Ben. Both Andy and Ben are believable caricatures- remember, this is a comic version of FFTMC. Wessex becomes a small rural town called Ewedown, where nothing happens and the kids are bored out of their mind.Readers of the novel will wonder where William Boldwood, the spare part in what is really a love triangle, is. This is where the film departs from the novel so those of you who haven't read the novel can breathe a sigh of relief and those who have read it can tentatively read on. The spare part in this film's love triangle is Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam), a paunchy middle-aged crime novelist and serial cheat. He and his wife Beth (Tamsin Grieg) run a writer's retreat, which provides a good chance for satirical comedy, though it seems to belong in another film. Hardiment is based more on Thomas Hardy than William Boldwood, and so we get many allusions to Hardy, particularly from American academic Greg (Bill Camp), who pines for Hardiment's wife.Thought that that's a lot of characters? Well, you get even more: two interfering schoolgirls who meddle in Tamara's love life. The pivotal Valentine in the novel is now an email sent to Andy, Ben and Hardiment.Taken all that in? Here's my opinion then. Despite the apparent clutter, this is actually a lightly funny film, and in some parts very moving. People have criticised Gemma Arterton for being too 2D but I think she convincingly portrays a vain beauty who enjoys her power over men. Tamara is an object, rather than a subject. The most interesting characters are Hardiment (played to slimy perfection by Roger Allam), Beth (a sympathetic portrayal by Tamsin Grieg) and Greg (a tragicomic performance from Bill Camp). The trailer leads you to think that the film is all about the young people, whereas much of the enjoyment lies in the Hardiments' disintegrating marriage. The schoolgirls provide humour but they're not entirely necessary.All in all, this is a fine film, of particular interest to Hardy fans. It's a much better modernisation than Trishna, that's for sure.

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.

"Tamara Drew" is the typical irreverent British comedy, where comedy is not for its own sake, on the contrary the witty humour leaves space to some reflection upon human relationships, and love is responsible of all the twists and damages within the story. But what is interesting is not the story itself, which is quite lacking any significance, being the plot in the service of the characters, as they are more complex than they may seem. At the beginning they appear as prototypes of human vices or virtues: the unfaithful husband, the good supporting and reconciling wife, the sex bomb who would make every man fall into her bed, the good-hearted intellectual who still has some moral values... and in a way they are. But as the story progresses it helps reveal their complexity, to come to the conclusion that life is more simple than people often pretend it to be. The movie offers amusing moments, but it gets in a way a black comedy , mainly in the end, revealing some crudity, as if some kind of justice has to be rendered. The cast is explosive, the actress playing Tamara is undoubtedly suitable for her role, all the people living in the village are authentic and credible, showing a good chemistry between them, and the two girls, mainly Jodie, are really sparkling. On the whole, an entertaining product, full of humour to be explored.