Tamara Drewe (2010) User Reviews

Tamara shakes and shocks them, far from the madding crowd

[Paddy-49 · 7/10 · 2 October 2010]

Tamara Drewe is full of comic book characters – literally, of course, as it is based on a Posy Simmonds comic strip. So we should not complain that nearly every character is a slightly exaggerated depiction – which they are. In real life surely nobody could be such a serial philanderer as Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) and think that he could get away with it. Or no wife could be as innocent and ignorant of her husband's infidelity as Beth Hardiment (Tamsin Greig). Or no young woman could be quite as lusty and self-assured, wilful and flirtatious as Tamara herself (Gemma Arterton). But no matter the in-your-face nature of the characters makes for a very funny and rather impious movie which just about keeps going over its nearly two hours duration.

I, like most townies, have sometimes thought that I would enjoy life in the country. The country pub with the fine local ales and fresh food; the country lanes with the birds in the hedgerows; the fresh air and the simple life. What this mental idyll ignores, of course, is just how insular and rejecting of newcomers country communities are. The Hardiments have been in Ewedown, their fictitious Dorset village for twenty years – but they are still seen as parvenu newcomers by the locals. The returning local, Tamara, like her Thomas Hardyesque model Bathsheba in "Far from the Madding Crowd", causes a sensation because of her re-imaging. The ugly duckling has had a nose job and become cosmopolitan – and she even dares to wear the shortest shorts that rural Dorset has surely ever seen! Tamara, like Bathsheba, is torn between three men all of whom desire her. Hardiment of course; Ben Sargeant, a rock band drummer brilliantly played by Dominic Cooper and handsome Andy Cobb who is the archetypal local man with strong arms - the "Gabriel Oak" figure, with a bouquet of "earth, dog, tobacco and engine oil", and who strongly resembles Alan Bates in John Schlesinger's the 1967 "Madding Crowd" film.

The film pokes gentle fun at the literary world. The Hardiments run a writers' retreat which allows Nicholas to wallow in his fame as a successful writer and requires Beth both to look after him as well to cater for the guests with home baking and other country fare. Key to the unwinding of the plot are two feral local teenage girls, Jody and Casey, who make mischief in an undercover and puckish sort of way. Because of their interference all of the main characters become aware first of Ben's steamy fling with Tamara and then of Nicholas's affair with her. Tamara seems to sail through all of this without too many cares - but she leaves a couple of broken hearts along the way before, predictably, settling for Andy who turns out to have been her childhood love all along. The final scene is dramatic and violent and a rather rough justice is done – not all of the characters lives happily ever after. Indeed arguably none of them emerges unscathed from the story. The film is part romp, part morality tale and part mild social commentary. It is entertaining, well directed by Stephen Frears and is definitely a good promotion for the beauty of the Dorset countryside. The story is an amoral one – certainly by the conventional mores that well-bred country folk might like to assert they follow. But such pomposity and hypocrisy is rather nicely pricked – just like Thomas Hardy once did with his slightly shocking tale of nineteenth century double standards.

Far From the Madding Crowd... and too far away from the graphic novel, alas

[clivy · 7/10 · 19 September 2010]

I'm a huge fan of Posy Simmonds and I've been following her career for over twenty years. Her graphic novels richly satirize modern British society. When she published "Gemma Bovery" I was astonished by the book's blend of contemporary social observation and commentary on Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary. While "Gemma Bovery" poked fun at artists and ex pat Brits living in northern France, "Tamara Drewe" exposes life in the British countryside, revealing the conflicts between longtime residents and newcomer second homeowners. The tangled love life of the title character exposes as well the ambitions and tensions of writers while paying tribute to the original source, Thomas Hardy's study of country life, Far from the Madding Crowd.

When I heard that "Tamara Drewe" was going to be made into a film I was delighted. If I had any worries about the adaption, they were dispelled by the opening sequences which show academic Glen McCreavy overhearing a fight between celebrity writer Nicholas Broadbent and his long suffering wife Beth. It was just like the installments of the graphic novel in the Guardian newspaper had been brought to life. At the start, the screenplay by Moira Buffini makes a few small changes to the development of the story of the now beautiful Tamara's return to her native village, but the changes make the events more cinematic, and the film is paced effectively. Director Stephen Frears expertly transfers the look of the graphic novel and its humor to the screen. The performances are all outstanding, especially Roger Allam as Nicholas, Tamsin Greig as Beth, and Bill Camp as Glen.

However, the ending isn't as faithful to Simmonds. The graphic novel concludes with two deaths. The first is Nicholas'. The novel shows Tamara expecting him to come to her house after he has his final row with Beth. Nicholas never appears. The visiting writers at his farm find him in the field the next morning. Only later does the novel reveal that Glen had a fight with Nicholas before the cattle stampeded. Furthermore, Glen doesn't kiss Beth in the novel: Nicholas and Glen fight over Glen revealing to Beth that Nicholas didn't leave his previous lover Nadia for the sake of his marriage; Nadia dumped him (Glen learns this when he overhears Nicholas making a begging phone call to his ex). The second death is Jody's. In the novel Jody is found on the same morning dead in her bed, clutching a can of computer cleaner. The verdict of the coroner is that inhaling the cleaner stopped her heart.

Replacing Jody's death with the death of Ben's dog makes the film lighter. My husband thought that the producers might have changed the ending to avoid having an 18 rating and to avoid controversy over substance abuse. But it means that the film has less edge; also, the book powerfully indicates how the boredom and tedium of life in the village for the local teenagers leads not just to mindless pranks and drinking but also tragedy.

I wish that the screenplay hadn't ended so neatly with Beth finding solace with Glen and Ben forming a couple with with Jody, as the song played over the credits suggests. I couldn't see why he would be interested in an underage stalker; it looked more like pure wish fulfillment for her.

Overall I would still recommend the film. However, it is a shame that the movie version of the story has more of the tone of a light farce rather than indicating the sorrow of modern country and celebrity life.

Don't Make Your Heroine a Slut

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 29 September 2010]

Thomas Hardy is not, perhaps, a novelist whom one would normally associate with comedy, fun and hilarity. (He did attempt one comic novel, "The Hand of Ethelberta", but it was a failure even in his own day and today is largely forgotten). "Tamara Drewe", however, based on a long-running cartoon strip in "The Guardian", is described as a modern comic reworking of his "Far from the Madding Crowd". The action takes place in the Dorset countryside and there are a number of Hardy references. One major character has the surname Hardiment and minor ones have characteristically Hardyesque Christian names like "Tess" and "Diggory". One character is an academic working on a critical study of Hardy and the manner in which another meets his death is reminiscent of an incident in "Far from the Madding Crowd".

The film is set in Ewedown, a fictitious village in Hardy's home county of Dorset. Tamara Drewe, a young and attractive journalist working for "The Independent" and a native of the village, returns home in order to arrange the sale of her late mother's house. (Several of Hardy's novels, notably "The Return of the Native", turn upon a central character revisiting the scenes of their previous life). Tamara corresponds to Bathsheba Everdene in the original novel, and the plot is the story of her love affairs with three men. Andy Cobb, Tamara's former boyfriend from her teenage years and a salt-of-the-earth countryman, is clearly intended as the Gabriel Oak figure, and Ben Sergeant, a charismatic but arrogant and self-obsessed rock star, is equally clearly intended as a modern equivalent of Sergeant Troy. (The Fanny Robin character is Ben's ex-girlfriend Fran, who has left him for a fellow band-member, although she does not come to the tragic end of her literary counterpart).

This left me wondering who the Boldwood figure would turn out to be. The obvious candidate seemed to be Glen, the shy bachelor American academic, but this was perhaps a bit too obvious. This film was always going to be a tough sell in America, given that there are no big Hollywood names in the cast, that much of the dialogue is in a rustic dialect of British English and that the only American character is middle-aged, balding, bespectacled and physically unattractive. Making the only American character a middle-aged, balding, bespectacled, physically unattractive loser in love, obsessively jealous to the point of homicidal fury, would have made it an absolutely impossible sell. Instead, Tamara's third lover turns out to be Nicholas Hardiment, the successful author of formulaic mystery novels. As Nicholas is just as successful as a womaniser as he is as a writer he does not bear much similarity in character to Hardy's Boldwood, but someone obviously felt that the parallels between film and novel should not become too obvious.

The script is often sharp and witty with some pertinent observations about life in the English countryside, which, as in Hardy's day, is not always as idyllic as it looks. It touches on topical matters such as the conflicts between local people like Andy and well-off second-home owners, or the lack of opportunities for young people in rural areas. The film is, at times, virtually stolen by the two mischief-making teenage schoolgirls Jody and Casey, brilliantly played by Jessica Barden and Charlotte Christie. The girls' main preoccupation in life, apart from sex, is their obsession with the doings of the celebrities about whom they read in glossy magazines. When they discover that Ben, one of their idols, is staying in their area they become obsessed with the idea of getting him into bed, even marrying him. There is also a very good performance from Tamsin Greig as Beth Hardiment, the long-suffering wife of the insufferable Nicholas.

The reason why the film does not earn a higher mark from me is that some of the characters come across either as caricatures or unbelievable. I found it difficult to accept Roger Allam's Nicholas as a successful serial seducer, as he is so obviously a sleazy, selfish cad that no attractive young woman in her right mind would touch him with a bargepole. Tamara's eagerness to drop her hotpants for him seemed completely incomprehensible. Ben is just as sleazy and selfish as Nicholas, but at least Dominic Cooper lends him a sort of dangerous sexual attractiveness, something in which the rumpled, ageing Nicholas seems completely lacking.

The title character is played by the strikingly attractive Gemma Arterton, something of a rising star at present, as a sexy, sluttish good-time girl. The film's advertising material was dominated by a photograph of Gemma in an improbably tight pair of denim hotpants; it was therefore difficult to take her seriously when she complained, a few days after the film's opening, that Hollywood only wanted her for her "ass". I couldn't, therefore, really see Tamara, a girl with the looks and personality of a glamour model, as a journalist for the "Independent", a high-minded left-wing broadsheet. (Doubtless the "Indie" wanted the same sort of product placement that its right-wing rival the "Daily Telegraph" achieved when Kate Winslet was cast as a "Torygraph" journalist in "The Holiday"). Gemma Arterton tries so hard to make her character sexy that she forgets to make her sympathetic. If the film-makers were going to turn "Far from the Madding Crowd" into a romantic comedy, they should have realised that one of the rules for a successful rom-com is "Don't Make Your Heroine a Slut". 7/10

Quintessentially English

[rogerdarlington · 17 April 2011]

This is an utterly, utterly English film and all the more charming, wry and artful for that. No wonder both BBC Films and the UK Film Council helped to fund it. Director Stephen Frears ("The Queen")has taken a screenplay by Moira Buffini, adapted from a comic strip by Posy Simmonds which in turn is a kind of pastiche of Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd", and combined it with a wonderful British cast and the stunning Dorset countryside to create a delightful work which could hardly contrast more with the usual Hollywood output.

Set in the mythical and comatose village of Ewedown over the course of one year, the film - like Hardy's book - has three men vying for the attention of a bewitchingly beautiful young woman - Tamara who was brought up in the village, has reshaped her life in so many ways, and now returns as a successful journalist.

The casting is brilliant from gorgeous, former Bond girl ("Quantum Of Solace") Gemma Arterton as the eponymous attraction, sporting the most diminutive denim shorts imaginable, to 17 year old Jessica Barden who is terrific as the village teenager who unwittingly causes most of the mayhem, with so many fine performances in between, whether male or female, whether large or small. For fans of Thomas Hardy, there are many allusions to his character and work. For the rest of us, Buffini's script offers so many sharp lines before serving up a satisfying, if traditional, conclusion.

Decent Brit-com

[freemantle_uk · 7/10 · 16 September 2010]

British comedy is a strange creature. There are films that are satirical, such as In the Loop, satirical, like Four Lions, to intelligence and dialogue driven, Withnail and I, and films that aim for low key charm, Calendar Girls. Sometimes a film may try and made a number of these features, like the work of Edgar Wright. Based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, Tamara Drewe hits our screens, with Gemma Arterton's profile continuing to increase.

The village of Ewedown has become a writers retreat, a place for writers to relax, work and chew the fat. Crime novelist Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) and wife Beth (Tasmin Greig) run the place, with an American academic, Glen (Bill Camp (who sounds a lot like William Hurt)) struggling with his book on Thomas Hardy staying with them. In the village two schoolgirls, Jody (Jessica Barden) and Casey (Charlotte Christie) cause havoc and mayhem simply because they are bored. But the village is turned on its head when the attractive journalist Tamara Drewe (Arterton) returns home to sell her out house. She turns heads, including drummer Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper), her old frame Andy (Luke Evans) and Nicholas.

Writer Moira Buffini and director Stephen Frears make a film with drama and wit, and some moments of out right laughs. Frears was able to inject some style, like when characters speaking when there are on the phone. The humour of the film relies on number of areas, witty comments and observation, physical violence and visual gags. The schoolgirls offer a lot of comedy because many people can empathies with their situation: rural England is not the most exciting place to grow up as a teenager. Their mischief making and thrills about a star in their village compensates Barden lack of confidence as an actress. It is refreshing to characters that do look their age. Frears and Buffini aim to a make a charming comedy, but with more swearing; so trying to have their cake and eat. The two should have tried to make gone one way or the other. Strangely for a film called Tamara Drewe, there are long periods where she is not on the screen or mentioned. There are plots involving Nicholas wayward eyes and the budding relationship between Glen and Beth: walking the fine line of drama and comedy. Tamara Drewe goes from being pretty serious and hits you with a sudden joke and vice versa: working with effect. Tamara Drewe is very British beast, but Glen the American does offer an outsider view and will allow a non-British audience a point-of-view, with few British swears and slang words being used. There are some issues affecting rural England, like rich city flock buying houses and making villages too expensive to live in and boredom for young people: but it is hardly a political piece.

Whilst some of pacing is a little slow and the film ends up sidetracking at moments, there are strong performances from most of the cast. Atherton shows why she is a raising star, giving Tamara a quick, biting wit. Allam effectively plays a very slimy writer who takes advantage of his wife and he seems to have a nack for playing dislikeable characters (his previous roles have been in V for Vendetta and Speed Racer). Cooper and Evans work well against each other as love rivals for Tamara, with Cooper really understands the part of a pretentious indie musician. Greig too gives a good performance and given her background as a comic actress, she her character is for the most part serious, with moments of witty comments.

Tamara Drewe is more a gently comedy with small jokes and drama and not a out right laugh fest as the promotion will want you to believe.

irreverent British comedy

[yris2002 · 6/10 · 10 August 2011]

"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.

An unexpected treat

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 12 August 2018]

Taken from a graphic novel that is loosely based on "Far from the Madding Crowd", "Tamara Drewe" is something of an unexpected treat from the great Stephen Frears. Gemma Arterton is Tamara, a journalist and former ugly duckling, who returns to the village of her youth, now something of a beauty, (she's had a nose job), causing considerable consternation among the locals, mostly the men, principal of whom is Roger Allam's crime writer who is two-timing his wife Tasmin Greig with any woman who moves. Then there's Tamara's old boyfriend Luke Evans, (think Gabriel Oak), and the rock drummer, (an excellent Dominic Cooper), she falls for (he's the Sergeant Troy figure). To make sure we get the Hardy analogy there's an American writer staying with Allam and in love with Greig and currently writing a book on the novelist. The plot, which also involves a couple of teenage girls with a crush on the Cooper character, gets more and more convoluted as the film progresses with the humour turning increasingly sour, but it's funny and clever and its failure was totally undeserved. Not the best of Frears but worth seeing.

Pleasant

[BenAordure · 7/10 · 12 August 2010]

The storyboard is about loves stories, I'd rather say love affairs, in a lovely English countryside village.

At the menu, we get an entertaining set of stories and characters, a bit of psychology about the difficulty to find the matching and deserving lover, about the aged people problems, we got also some English humor...

This makes a tasty meal. Yet this is definitely not the movie of the year. But I had a pleasant time watching this, even if I found myself sometimes wanting the movie to speed a little up. Good to watch if you want something entertaining but different from Hollywood action-movies.

Heavy-Handed Romance and Comedy by Stephen Frears

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 9 August 2011]

The Independent journalist Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to Dorset, Ewedown, to sell the Winnard Farm that belonged to her deceased mother. Her neighbor Beth Hardiment (Tamsin Greig) runs a writers retreat with her unfaithful and womanizer husband Nicholas Hardiment (Roger Allam) that is a successful writer of the adventures of his alter-ego Inchcombe and cheats Beth every now and then with younger women. Tamara was the sweetheart of the handyman Andy Cobb (Luke Evans), whose family owned the Winnard Farm but lost it to Tamara's family, and she sees him, she rekindles her love for him.

However, when Tamara travels to interview the unpleasant drummer of the Swipe band Ben Sergeant (Dominic Cooper), he has just found that his girlfriend Fran is having an affair with the other musician Steven Culley and he breaks up with the band. Tamara and Ben have a love affair and Ben moves to Winnard. Meanwhile, Ben's teenager fan Jody Long (Jessica Barden) and her best friend Casey Shaw (Charlotte Christie) that are bored in Ewedown feel happy with the presence of Ben in the village. When Ben proposes Tamara, they travel to London to spend a couple of days in the big city. Meanwhile the jealous Casey breaks in Tamara's house and uses her computer to send an e-mail pretending to be Tamara that will change the lives of the dwellers and end in a tragedy.

"Tamara Drewe" is a disappointing heavy-handed romance and comedy by Stephen Frears. The story is too dramatic for a black-humor comedy and too silly for a drama. Most of the characters are obnoxious, specially the annoying Casey and Ben. Gemma Arterton is very beautiful and when she appears wearing small short is something very sexy. Roger Allam is absolutely out of her league and it is difficult to accept and understand her love affair with such unpleasant man. In the end, I did not like this film. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Retorno de Tamara" ("The Return of Tamara")

Not Very Hardy

[NJMoon · 6/10 · 7 November 2010]

Director Stephen Frears plays it decidedly safe with this graphic novel come to the screen. The story of a sexy columnist who comes back to her rural Dorset village and stirs the passions of the local men (mostly writers) is a far cry from 'hardy' material for a screenplay, despite being based on FAR FROM THE MADDENING CROWD. Visually, the scenery is lush, but there isn't a hint of the story's graphic novel roots except for a couple of split screens and a title or two. With no help from their director, a crack cast might have put some comfort in this cold farm, but this grouping looks more like stand-ins for a top flight Brit-cast and do little to embroider the yarn with thespianic interest. Not nearly funny enough, nor nearly dark enough - this is a muddled cow pasture of a film that left me looking for greener cinematic pastures.

A Charmless Parody of Modern Britain

[mw-842-289670 · 2/10 · 11 September 2010]

For me, the BBC Films logo is always a bit of a warning sign. Whilst their films are invariably challenging and technically well-made, they are often either unrelenting grim, or in strangely poor taste.

Tamara Drewe ticks both of those boxes (the second much more than the first). Overall, the film is little more than a group of shallow clichéd stereotypes, mooching around a rural village and sleeping with each other. It lacks any real depth or insight and cannot be deemed to be truly "worthy commentary". At the same time it is too dark and too sleazy to be palatably humorous either, and yet still does not work as black humour.

There are so many ways that the film could have been improved - from making some characters believable (the two teenage girls and many of the authors are not) to centring the film around one character or one relationship, and making that the focus. Instead the film wanders aimlessly around, seemingly looking for titillation, and finding it remarkably often.

To snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in so many ways, Tamara Drewe has really achieved something quite remarkable.

And a note to non-UK viewers - this is a shallow (and bitter) parody of the UK, quite unlike the bulk of UK-produced films, in fact.

Entertainement I love

[ingrid-109 · 8/10 · 5 August 2010]

A very, very good movie, no doubt. Everything, in particular, each man, woman, chicken, car, tear, cow and dog and meadow, each pop and tune is on the right place. Excellent dialogs, sparkling soundtrack, gorgeous photography, rich colors, fresh, witty and ebullient, perfectly balanced black and ... regular humor. The story is nicely knitted, a lot of grey matter must have been consumed for the dialogs. Some lines have got what it takes to become a "quote". I loved it! Found a few British stereotypes? So what? Troubles to follow the quick replies in the original English version? Cannot follow the subtitles while trying to translate the cream of the jokes? So what? Watch it again!! I will!

Nice one

[fw82 · 7/10 · 8 January 2011]

I went to see this film with my wife after it got recommended to me from a mate of mine.

Nice movie with a brilliant, humorous and sarcastic story line that was surprisingly refreshing. Convincing actors that come across truthful in a witty plot.

Have to admit that British sense of humour is kind of special and most of the time tongue-in- cheek, especially for German viewers.

Saw this one in German, but will definitely try to get the English original version someday and watch that, too.

Absolutely recommendable if you are looking for great and tasteful entertainment on a Saturday night (out with your gf or wife as well ... )

A Waste of Time and a good Cast, shame...

[roy-henderson7 · 2/10 · 12 September 2010]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave this 4 stars (Friday 10th September 2010), Cosmo Landesman gave it 2 out of 5 in the Sunday Times.

I am with with Cosmo and fear some relationship between The Guardian and the film makers. This film was poorly scripted, had facile characters, a random plot and worst of all, wasn't very funny, failing to tickle the funny bone of my 16 year old and his two middle-aged parents.

I was expecting something akin to the TV version of 'Cold Comfort Farm', (also Frears?) This was not it....

Was it ironic? A comedy of manners? A satire on city types in the country? A wry commentary on how a Hardy-esquire take on the Archers might play out?

Who knows, a wasted opportunity.

Thomas Hardy's Dorset

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 18 November 2010]

"Tamara Drewe" a film set in the Dorset of Thomas Hardy, owes a lot to the author. Not only is he a presence, but he is the subject of a novel being written at the compound where authors retreat to work on the projects they are tackling. It is also a movie that is loosely based on a Hardy's novel, "Far From the Madding Crowd", a classic which was given its own cinematic treatment by John Schlessinger in the 1960s.

The couple running the literary retreat, Nicholas and Beth Hardiment, attract people working on novels. Nicholas is a crime novel author whose books are cherished by his many fans. Beth runs the house for him, cooks some incredible dishes, and keeps tabs on the accounts. In this mixture we find Glen, an American writer working on a book by Thomas Hardy. He is suffering from a block that does not let him go ahead. Nicholas loves to fool around, unknown to his wife. Andy Cobb is a sort of handyman helping with the chores in the farm.

Andy is from the area, his family home is now owned by Tamara Drewe, a local girl that grew up ugly with a horrible nose, but she went away to take care of that, and in the meantime became a celebrity on her own right. As she makes an unexpected appearance at the Hardiments, she stuns everyone with her looks.

To complicate things, there are two local school girls, Jodie and Casey, that hang around in the bus stop shelter. They are the eyes and the ears of the town. They know more for their young years than most of the older folks. Jodie and Casey will ultimately create such havoc in the lives of the older people, no one would suspect by looking at their innocent demeanor.

Stephen Frears directed this comedy that is supposed to be based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, which we have not read. The screenplay is credited to Moira Buffini. This is a sunny English comedy that stands in contrast with many of Hollywood-by-the-numbers products. The film is witty and funny and light. The idea of adapting the work of a notable writer of classic novels into a delightful film speaks a lot of its director, a man who has not exactly distinguished himself for his work in comedies such as this one.

Gemma Arterton is Tamara, a beautiful creature that has overcome a fatal anatomical problem and now has blossomed into a gorgeous woman. Roger Allam appears as the narcissistic Nicholas. His wife is played by Tamsin Greig. Others in the cast include Dominic Cooper, Bill Camp, Luke Evans and two amazing young actresses, Jessica Barden, and Charlotte Christie.

"Tamara Drewe" is one of the best comedies in recent memory from England thanks to Stephen Frears.

Amusing and entertaining

[oz46 · 4 November 2011]

This is pure escapism and the whole cast clearly enjoyed themselves immensely... OK so it's full of stereotypes, says nothing remotely profound about the human condition and the plot is distinctly predictable, but I was left with a smile on my face and a happy feeling at the end when it all turned out OK.

Gemma Arterton is always worth a watch and its good to see Tamsin Greig getting a decent part as the downtrodden and long suffering wife.

To be honest the excellent ensemble cast never put a foot wrong and the uncredited English countryside with its contradiction of beauty and rural dullness makes a fine back-drop.

I never read the Posy Simmonds originals so I care not a jot whether it is true to the serial or not.... this is a fine and entertaining way to spend an evening.

The two schoolgirls are terrific and really steal the show....

Shame about the dog though......

Pleasant British comedy/drama, but nothing out of the ordinary.

[lewiskendell · 6/10 · 26 February 2011]

"Why do I do these things? What am I doing with you?"

Tamara Drewe is a twisty, soap-opera-ish, story about a woman who returns to the small town she used to come home, nose job in tow, and turns the local writing community upside down in the process. 

It's a nice role for Gemma Arterton, with a large supporting cast of Roger Allam, Bill Camp, Dominic Cooper, Luke Evans, Tamsin Greig, Jessica Barden, and others. The story sort of meanders between the various characters, and there's not much of a central theme, other than how Tamara is a bit lost in life and how that plays havoc on the small town she returns to. 

I'd describe it as occasionally amusing, instead of funny. Interesting enough to watch once, but you probably won't be in a rush to see it again.

An anti-feminist tale?

[skysaxon · 6/10 · 13 February 2011]

Stephen Frears seems to have sleep-walked through this. After watching it, I find it hard to find any redeeming qualities in the whole mess. I guess that's the point. The characters are all cringe-worthy. The moral, if there is one, is completely corrupt. The story does little but paint caricatures of women and men. Yet, there is something in the aftertaste that is slightly beguiling.

No one in this film comes out better for the telling. The only likable character isn't likable at all. Beth is the dim-witted, dull wife of despicable famous author and the supposed victim of the piece. But she is so dull, so dim you don't give a rat's bum for her. Even her pining American suitor is so ineffectual that you want to pummel him.

But that's just what the idiot does to the husband. Here's the rub. The cheating husband is head-butted, gashed on the back of the head and trampled by a stampede of cows. Meanwhile the despicable titular character and a teenage witch who cause most of the pain are not only given a moral pass but rewarded in the end for their devious ways.

It's a curious mixture, this movie. I sense the comic strip upon which it is based has far more subtlety and wit. Then again, who knows? In a movie that rewards bad behaviour in women, where ineffectual men are the norm and the only punishment is heaped on a promiscuous male, you have a movie that seems not fully realized.

Technically, Tamara Drewe is a decent flick. It looks good. There are some memorable performances. The aftertaste lasts a little longer than the movie itself. That's a good thing. It's just that the whole thing feels kind of, well, icky. One character of merit wouldn't hurt. This is not a comic strip. It's a movie. As viewers, we need that one last bit of humanity to hang on to.

rom-com chaos

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 31 August 2015]

Former ugly duckling Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to the village to sell her late mother's house. She rekindles feelings in former love handyman Andy Cobb. Andy works at the writers retreat of Nicholas Hardiment. Smug writer Nicholas is cheating on his wife Beth and she finds out. Tamara immediately catches everyone's attention as the men recall her with her big nose. She's a columnist and has an interview with obnoxious rock drummer Ben Sergeant. They get together and she accepts his offhanded marriage proposal. Andy is jealous. Restless local teens Jody and Casey are Ben fanatics and want Ben for themselves. Jody sends an email from Tamara's account and chaos ensues.

Director Stephen Frears creates a fluffy chaotic romantic comedy. The comedy is dark and light. This is a criss-cross of light and dark intents. There are some fun turns by these actors. Jessica Barden is memorable as the bratty teen. The kids are like crazy fairies interfering with the love affairs of the villagers. Gemma Arterton is the perfect heart breaker and broken heart. Roger Allam is such a creep and a charming one at that.

Hmmmm

[markgorman · 5/10 · 11 September 2010]

The Good Life meets The Vicar of Dibley. Minus the laughs.

Steven Frears' career is, for me, a bit up and down. He's had his greats; The Queen and The Grifters for sure, but a lot of his best work has been for TV and this is a BBC funded movie that feels more like a TV show. I have to say it is beautifully realised. The setting in England's green and pleasant Home Counties (or is it the West Country?) looks delightful and the lighting is excellent. But it doesn't do very much at all. It seems such a slight premise for a movie and really is about manners; English middle class manners.

Set amidst a writer's retreat the concept should tee up some goofy, oddball characters with the opportunity for considerable set piece fun, but for some reason Frears chooses not to go down that path, consequently the laughs are few and yet this is billed a comedy. As a morality tale (which it really aspires to being) it doesn't really preach any morals. Hardly anyone gets hurt (apart from the long suffering wife of lotharian crime writer Nicholas Hardiment - played rather well by Roger Allam) but even she gets a get out of jail free card and our eponymous 'heroine' seems to be celebrated for shagging pretty much every guy that crosses her path.

Gemma Arterton looks alright, but she's not exactly Marlyn Monroe and she acts OK (but little more than that). Apart from Roger Allam only Tamsin Greig as his aforementioned rug of a wife can claim any acting credits at all. The Greek Chorus of 15 year old troublemakers who stitch the movie together are not credible in the least and Drew's first catch, the uber-stereotypical rock and roll bad lad, played by Dominic Cooper has just steeped out of am dram to overact like a bastard.

This is a poor film folks. It's all packaging and no content. And the truth is; it's kinda dull. Save your money.

5/10

Good English comedy-drama

[grantss · 7/10 · 12 April 2015]

Good English comedy-drama.

Light, whimsical, subtle and understated - i.e. a typical good English comedy-drama! Decent, mostly character-driven plot, though threatens to unravel near the end.

Solid performance by the stunningly beautiful Gemma Arterton in the lead role. Well supported by Luke Evans, Roger Allam, Dominic Cooper and Tamsin Greig.

Despite all these good performances, the show is stolen by 18-year old Jessica Barden. Her over-the-top, kooky, intense performance as the seemingly-deranged schoolgirl Jody is screamingly funny, and keeps the movie moving.

Drewd-ful

[galahad58-1 · 1/10 · 12 February 2011]

This could possible be one of the worse, if not the worse, movie to come out this past year. The story of the ugly duckling coming home looking like a princess had it's intent and heart ripped apart by a bad production, bad direction and a horrible script. Tamara Drewe returns to town after finding success and having a nose job. You are supposed to care about this woman, but she is nothing more than a shallow slut who destroys everything and everyone around her. The adulterous neighbor is annoying and a waste of time and effort. Only the American novelist looking to find his way has a worthy performance and gives you a character to care about in any way, shape or form. A horrible movie.

An Under-appreciated Gem

[winterhaze13 · 9/10 · 31 December 2010]

Tamara Drewe is a real gem by The Queen director Stephen Frears. It is an updated version of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd but based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds. A dark comedy set in the English countryside, the story is centred on a writer's colony run by Tamsin Greig's character Beth and her crime writer husband Nicholas, played by Roger Allam.

Gemma Arteton plays the title character who lived in the same small down in Dorset known as Ewedown during her teenage years. Now grown up she returns to restore and hopefully sell the house she used to live in. With help from a surgically reconstructed nose, Tamara Drewe has blossomed into a beautiful woman and her presence shakes the sleepy town as Bethsheba did in Hardy's novel.

The film is true to the memory of Thomas Hardy maintaining the turmoil of sexual desire and even obsession across all age groups which so commonly adorned his novels. One of the characters, the sympathetic American novelist Glen played by Bill Camp is writing a novel influenced by Hardy and references the author on many occasions.

The film breaks the notion of a quiet and sleepy town, like so many British films do. Underneath these seemingly close communities lies an underlining suspicion. Everyone is in everyone else's business in Ewedown and Tamara's presence only helps fuel the tension.

The pivotal scene that embodies Tamara Drewe's character occurs when Glen tells her that life must be very easy for her because she is beautiful. She laughs it off citing that it has always been difficult for her to be taken seriously.

Behind the character of Tamara Drewe lies something more sinister. The sudden appearance of a beautiful face in the town leads to a series of events that causes the balance of everyone's life to be upset. Men are suddenly smitten by the prospect of sex while women are often jealous or angry by the disruption they cause.

The story really begins to escalate when Tamara begins to date a drummer in a rock band played by Dominic Cooper and sets up permanently in the town. Soon, everyone in the town is invested in the lives of these people in some way.

The voyeurism of the locals who regard Tamara Drewe as both someone to envy and detest is likened to the celebrity status of her rock star boyfriend. Tamara quickly becomes the target of two schoolgirls who are both obsessed with the drummer and jealous of Tamara for disturbing the order of things.

The film eases its dark themes with its excellent use of subtle humour. The updated version of one of Hardy's most celebrated novels exposes the reality of a voyeuristic society too concerned with the lives of other people.

Along with Frears excellent direction, the other great strength of this film is its actors with special distinction going to Tamsin Greig. Greig is familiar to the London stage scene while others have played minor roles in big films. Gemma Arteton was one of Bond's muses in the Quantum of Solace. Roger Allam has been equally excellent in Frears academy award winning film the Queen as well as in V for Vendetta.

On one final note, I read one review that argued that the climax just does not amount to much which I personally felt was very misguided. The ending was true to the traditions of Hardy which is what Tamara Drewe is all about.

could have been better

[Saf_Li · 6/10 · 8 October 2022]

First half was worthy of a 7, maybe even an 8 but the second half dragged (it really didnt need to go on for so long) and tamara really was just a horrible character. Jody and nicholas too, all 3 characters made it almost unbearable to go on. In fact theyre all terrible in this film, except the american one who did provide the most comic relief. Sob story also wasnt enough for me to sympathise with tamara and try to excuse her actions. And the dreary wife dont get me started, taking him back do instantly ? I can only watch someone be a fool for so long.

Its saying i need 18 more characters help.

Disappointing

[yourow · 1/10 · 8 September 2010]

This was showing at the NFT in London. After the movie, the cast and director came on stage for a Q&A. I had no idea what this movie was going to be about other than it was based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds (whose work I had not seen or read).

The beautiful scenery didn't sit well with the unfolding story. There was no character that you could like or identify with. You either felt sorry or disgusted by them and that included the main character, Tamara Drewe. I didn't understand why the characters behaved as they did.

"Delightful" or a "feel good movie" this is not. The main theme of this movie is that it's not only writers that are "thieves and liars", but this is the general state of people today.