Rating: 
Summary: well, I suppose it was meant to be funny
Review: Bad writing, bad acting, one cliche after another. It takes a very clever writer to satirize bad writing, and very good actors to satirize bad acting. These folks weren't able to carry it off. Too bad, I really like Joanna Lumley and she didn't have much scope in this program. Well, it wasn't all that bad, but I wouldn't recommend that anyone actually buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Delightful
Review: This is a wonderful film that I watch over and over. The acting is just perfect with Kate Beckinsale leading the way supported by an incredible supporting cast. Joanna Lumley is delightful. Eileen Atkins is hilarious. Ian McKellen is great as usual. Throw in Stephen Fry playing a man who is hopelessly and head over heels in love (or lust) with Kate and most any other woman he meets and you will be laughing your head off.
Rating:
Summary: Charming gem
Review: Extremely funny and charming gem. Very well acted with a fine veteran cast. It erases any doubts about Beckinsale's (Flora Poste)charm, talent, and ability to be a strong leading lady. I hope to see this re-released on DVD sometime soon.
Rating:
Summary: cold comfort farm
Review: This is a great movie- WHERE IS THE DVD ????
Rating:
Summary: I Saw Something Naaaaasty in the Woooodshed...
Review: I will forever remember that line and laugh out loud at the very thought of it. This was quite an enjoyable albeit quirky kind of movie. KB was perfectly cast to go in a change everyone's life and provide us with another happy ending.
Rating: 
Summary: An engaging treatment of a quirky novel
Review: "Cold Comfort Farm", the novel, was a parody of naturalism. The melodramatic and eccentrically rustic Starkadders- like Seth, a lusty young man who loves "the talkies," Amos, a fire and brimstone preacher, and Great Aunt Ada Doom, who saw something nasty in the woodshed- are interesting enough in their own right, but are really parodies of the way people were portrayed in the Faulkneresque novels of the time. The movie manages to capture some of the parody in the book, but not all of it. It did include many of my favorite bits from the novel, and some truly stellar performances. If you are an Ian McKellan fan, don't miss him as Amos. Eileen Atkins also does a grand job as the Emma-esque Flora. The film is well worth a watch, but one needs to read the novel first in order to best understand and appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: Quirkly and memorable.
Review: A dazzling Kate Beckinsale leads the cast in this bizarre and quirkly comedy about the Starkladder family. This movie captures your attention from the start and Schlesinger keeps the film on track. The film is amusing, but the true genius in it is the comedic but honest study of the human condition. Beckinsale is the perfect good-natured luftmensch and meddler and I loved what should be a classic line of "I saw something nasty in the woodshed!". The matriarchal contraints on the family was a riot to behold. This film can also be a lesson on how to deal with subtle verbal threats to your psyche and how perfectly far dismissiveness can go. At any rate, it's a clever and feel-good piece of fun which is always a good reason to see a film, I'd say.
Rating:
Summary: A funny and entertaining film
Review: I really enjoy watching this movie adaptation of Stella Gibbons's great novel. Films like this are rare gems, and I advize anyone with a sense of humor and a taste for good drama to buy this video. It's a pity that an enhanced widescreen version is not available in DVD format. The story centers around a lively and intellegent young woman named Flora (Bekinsale) who finds herself living with a rustic family in rural England. She quickly adapts and ends up changing the family for the better. Each of the well developed characters is unique in their own way. They further evolve as Flora jump starts their lives and helps them find a path in life. In the end, Flora finds her own road to a new life outside the farm. Not only is the acting in this film superb; but also, the green rural landscape where it was filmed is very nice. It makes the viewer expect to see hobbits, wizards, or a dragon at some point in the film. There are even a few instances when this film has a touch of Monty Pythonish comedy appeal. A great buy.
Rating:
Summary: SOMETHING NASTY HAPPENED IN THE WOODSHED...
Review: This is a marvelous and fairly faithful adaptation of Stella Gibbons' 1932 novel of the same name. The film brilliantly captures the quirkiness of the novel which is a hysterically funny, tongue in cheek parody of the heavy handed, gloomy novels of some early twentieth century English writers who had previously been so popular. The film is likewise hysterically funny and itself seems to parody British costume dramas. The film starts out innocuosly enough, when well educated Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale) finds herself orphaned as a young woman. Discovering that her father was not the wealthy man she believed him to be, she is resigned to the fate of having to live on a hundred pounds a year. After some discussion with her good friend, the wealthy Mrs. Smiley (Joanna Lumley), Flora opts to live with relatives, rather than earn her bread. She seeks out a most unlikely set of relations with whom to do so, the decidedly odd Starkadder family who live in rural Howling, Sussex. Therein begins what is certainly one of the funniest movies to grace the silver screen. When Flora arrives in Howling, she meets her odd relatives, who live in neglected, ramshackle "Cold Comfort Farm", where they still wash the dishes with twigs, and have cows named Graceless, Pointless, Feckless, and Aimless. Headed by a matriarchal old crone, Flora's aunt, Ada Doom Starkadder (Sheila Burrell), who has not been right in the head since she "saw something nasty happen in the woodshed" nearly seventy years ago, they are a motley and strange crew indeed. Confronted with their dismal and gloomy existence, Flora sets about trying to put things to right. Peppered with eccentric, memorable characters, this film will take the reader on a journey not easily forgotten. Kate Beckinsale is delightful as the practical, no nonsense Flora Poste. Joanna Lumley is delicious as the sophisticated and wordly Mrs. Smiley. Eileen Atkins is a standout as Flora's gloomy first cousin, Judith Starkadder, Ada's daughter. Rufus Sewell is well cast as Judith's son, Seth Starkadder, the oversexed ladies man. The role of the fire and brimstone preacher, Amos Starkadder, is played to perfection by Ian McKellen, while Shiela Burrell is nothing short of sensational as the imperious Ada Doom Starkadder. The rest of the supporting cast is likewise uniformly excellent. All in all, this is a hilariously funny film and every bit as brilliant as the novel upon which it was based. It is certainly worth having in one's personal collection, as it is a keeper by any standard.
Rating:
Summary: "Diverting and amusing."
Review: An inspired lampooning of Jane Austin. John Schlesinger, director of numerous classics, has delivered another gem. Sir Ian McKellen and Eileen Atkins give award caliber performances. This is no ordinary costume drama, but a fresh, invigorating and literate film full of memorable characters and scenes. Not to be missed.
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