tibet10-1 You will enjoy this movie if you step back and watch it like a spoof put together by the actors themselves. Otherwise the story as portrayed in this production is just not logical. There are irritating loose ends and tangents that I found frustrating. However they are all great actors doing a fine job and if you take it as it comes and just accept it as a silly spoof then you will enjoy it. Why an otherwise sensible, financially independent, elderly widower, would move in with an old grumpy, ungrateful, insulting, rake is not well explained. If you are going to write a script at least give good solid logical reasons to support why a character follows a particular course of action. The moment I gave up asking why so and so did such and such I began to enjoy the journey. A few drinks would also help. It is a silly movie that I ended up enjoying. Rosamund Pike - her movie debut - and some others appear for about half a second. One wonders why you would go to the trouble of assembling a cast of actors who may well spend three days on set only to be almost invisible in the final production. Even more outrageous is that very often, some bugger would have spent weeks mulling over who to cast in these invisible roles. We can only hope the invisible ones receive regular residuals ! So grab a stiff drink, relax, throw logic out the window and watch this movie.

treeline1 Two elderly men are widowed on the same night in the same hospital. Pompous lecher Reggie (Albert Finney) and meek milkman Southgate (Tom Courtenay) would seem to have little in common, yet they become roommates at the suggestion of a social worker who thinks the situation will ease their grief. Reggie, however, starts bossing Southgate around and treating him like a servant while beginning a dodgy romance with a younger woman.This well-intentioned "odd couple"-type drama almost hits a home run with top-notch acting from the two stars, but the script glosses over or eliminates much needed information and action. While Southgate doesn't seem to mind being treated like hired help, we never understand why he stays in the relationship, as their friendship is assumed rather than developed in the story. Courtenay is by far the more sympathetic of the two, giving a poignant performance as a truly grieving man who has a family secret. Finney's blustery old windbag is quite rude and unlikable, but he does a good job playing him.I think this could have been better with another half hour to develop the relationship between the two men; as it is we're left to fill in much of the story ourselves. Still, this simple movie is quite watchable thanks to the talent and charisma of Finney and Courtenay.

grabberlime Finney & Courtenay are teamed again in this tale of two widowers who are drawn together by a well meaning social services worker.Finney seems at first coolly detached from his loss, while Courtenay is the far more visibly shaken of the two. Finney is essentially left with a lifetime interest in his home and a small annual stipend by his late wife. Courtenay needs companionship. The social worker brings them together in a marriage of convenience.Finney assumes the role of the master of the house and Courtenay essentially the man servant.For those who enjoyed the pair in 1984's The Dresser, Courtenay calling Finney "Sir" will bring a smile to your face.As the plot evolves, we see Finney deteriorating while Courtenay steps up to the plate to assume the more dominant role. Both are forced to face tragedy again during their time together and learn to adapt.The film deals with how people deal with grief, or choose not, and in the end, how we all must make that choice.

DC1977 A modern television classic set in the Eighties, A Rather English Marriage tells the story of two recently widowed men; a brash World War Two squadron leader (Albert Finney) and a retired milkman (Tom Courtenay) who form an unlikely alliance as they come to terms with their bereavements.The two men miss their wives for totally different reasons, Roy Southgate (Courtenay) is a loyal, devoted husband who spends hours with his wife when visiting her at hospital. Reggie Conyngham-Jervis (Finney) is a philanderer who relies on his wife mainly for her cooking and cleaning skills and sees his hospital visits as time that could be better spent in the pub.When a social worker sees that each man could be the solution to the other's problems, these two characters (complete opposites plagued by personal problems they try to keep hidden) who were hospital waiting room acquaintances are now brought together full time.This is the sort of charming, well-written television drama that nobody seems to want to make anymore, the two leads forming an even more effective partnership than they did in The Dresser fifteen years earlier where Finney stole the show.Courtenay is superbly understated, Finney is more powerful and boisterous and probably the more versatile actor. Their contrasting styles complement each other perfectly.Although this is mainly a double-act, Joanna Lumley also excels as the gold-digger who has her eye on Reggie's wallet.However this drama belongs equally to Finney and Courtenay. The final scene with these two grand old men of film and theatre dancing to Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' will surely prove to be one of the most lasting and endearing moments in British television.