Grown Ups

Rating:
Summary: "We're back to normal now, aren't we?"
Review: "Grown Ups" is an early Mike Leigh made-for-television film. Director Leigh has a special talent for creating British working class characters, and in this film the subjects are Mandy (Lesley Manville) and Dick (Philip Davis), a young newlywed couple. Mandy and Dick move into their new home--a tatty council house--and the move is an 'arrival' in more ways than one. Now that they have a council house, Mandy feels that they are ready to start a family, but Dick doesn't want to take that step yet. Their tatty council house is right next door to the perfectly maintained private home of a former teacher, Mr. Butcher and his wife, fellow teacher Christine. It's a unpleasant shock for Mr. Butcher to have his former pupils living right next door, and he'd rather have nothing at all to do with the new neighbours.

"Grown Ups" is a portrait of two marriages, and neither couple is destined for much happiness. Dick is sullen, resentful, and unpleasant. He clings to old-fashioned notions rather desperately, and he would be a pitiful character if he weren't so utterly unappealing. Mandy's annoying sister, Gloria, won't leave the couple alone. She finds every excuse to pester Dick and Mandy and is constantly 'dropping in'. The Butchers' marriage isn't much happier. Mr. Butcher has some rather annoying habits, and it takes the patience of a saint to suffer through every day life with him. Christine, apparently, does have that much patience. She's long-suffering, undemanding, and self-contained, and all those qualities result in her being ignored at times and taken for granted at others. But at least Mr. Butcher's self-righteous pomposity is more benign than Dick's brutal and crude approaches to domestic tranquility.

All of the performances are perfect. Brenda Blethyn, who plays Mandy's loony spinster sister, Gloria, is a wonderful comedienne. In "Grown Ups", she's neurotic, deranged, and needy. Some of her screechy speeches tend to grate after a while, and one longs to eject Gloria oneself ... permanently. As with other Mike Leigh films, the characters are not pleasant, and they are sometimes painful to watch. While touted as a comedy film, the style of humor is uniquely Mike Leigh's, and that means it's black, bleak, pessimistic humor. If you are a fan of Mike Leigh films, then I would recommend "Grown-Ups." Non-British viewers may find some of the accents difficult to understand, and they may also bored by the film as it emphasizes and skewers British class differences--displacedhuman


Rating:
Summary: Quite simply.....the best ever.
Review: I don't want to sound like I'm patronising your reviewer 'displacedhuman' but I found his/her concise review of Mike Leighs GROWN UPS quite superb. I watched this play in disbelief in the late 1970s when it was first televised on the BBC. When they repeated it in the early 80s I taped it on Betamax (RIP)! Then when my Betamax recorder finally expired I had the tape transferred to VHS. This is without doubt, the funniest, darkest and most touching of all Mike Leighs films. All the actors are superb, but Brenda Blethyns performance is stratospheric. AT LAST it's on DVD !! Goodness knows what anyone who isn't British will make of it, but try it, you just might like it too.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny, very dark
Review: I grew up in England and can totally relate to this film. I'd recommend it to anyone who knows what it's like to 'pop round' for a cup of tea. It's another dark yet hillarious Mike Leigh movie. Don't buy this movie if you are looking for light hearted humour and a happy ending.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Bristish Comedy
Review: I remember watching this along time ago.... In a couple of Weeks i will own it on Dvd.....The Story goes there is a New couple that move into a New house, Only to have the Sister in-law calling round EVERY DAY...Until the Brother in-law had enough and throws her out..Just like a Woman she SCREAMMS the street down..With this the Sister in-law Is then Chase into the Neighbours house ((Who just happened to been there old school teachers))The comedy Really starts there, You will witness a tug of war between the new Couple and Teachers, as They all end up on the Stairs with the Sister in-law holding onto the stair rail for dear life, With her sister and brother in-law (New couple) trying to get her out of the Neighbours House....If you got a good sense of Humour and want a GOOD OLD FASHION BRITISH FILM, then BUY THIS..!!! Promise u will Laugh..!!!

Rating:
Summary: Another excellent Mike Leigh film
Review: This movie has gradually crept to the top of my Mike-Leigh favorites list. Overall it is a positive, sometimes funny, sometimes agonizing movie with a number of scenes and tics (the male neighbor's throat-clearing in particular) that stick in my mind. Philip Davis is a not-too-bright dishwasher married to Leslie Manville, the backbone of the marriage. The realistically-quirky people with whom they interact are Brenda Blethyn, her frequently-visiting sister who is going downhill slowly and painfully, two neighbors, and a friend of Manville. How the husband and wife deal with the strains caused by relatives and neighbors illumines the ultimate importance and strength of the nuclear family that Leigh has approached from different directions in Life is Sweet, Secrets and Lies, and even Meantime. The movie's modest scope is a large part of its offbeat charm.