Seven friends who belonged to an acting troupe at Cambridge University and graduated in 1982 have gone their separate ways. When Peter's father dies and he inherits a huge estate, he invites his former classmates together for the New Year's holiday. Their lives have all changed, but Peter has the most shocking secret of all. This 1992 film, directed by Branagh and written by Rudner (reportedly in a five-day first draft) with her husband Martin Bergmann, is a sort of upper-class British "Big Chill" -- warm, homey, overly dramatic but not particularly dark or deep. Laurie and Imelda Staunton play a couple devastated by the recent death of a child, Thompson's character is hungry to land a man, and Branagh is having marital problems with his American wife (Rudner), who has a show called "Who's in the Kitchen." Thompson's real-life mother Phyllida Law does a nice turn as the housekeeper, Vera. Songs by Queen, Clapton, the Pretenders, and Springsteen chug goodnaturedly on the soundtrack. You might find this charming and moving, or merely pleasant.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
