Swinging with the Finkels (2011)

What a waste of my time!!!

Excellent, a Must See

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Alvin (Martin Freeman) and Ellie Finkel (Mandy Moore) seem to be a happily married couple in London. Peter (Jonathan Silverman) and Janet (Melissa George) are their married best friends. With issues in the marriage, Ellie suggests swinging.Freeman and Moore make for a bland couple. They don't have much chemistry which leaves them without any rooting interest. I don't care about saving their marriage. The characters are flat. The humor is cruel but worst of all, it's broadly bland. With all the inappropriate takes and foul language, none of it is that funny, not even as an accidental shock humor. I'm not sure who writer/director Jonathan Newman is. His resume doesn't stand out to me. It's surprising that he has a cast of good actors. I don't know what they read in the script.

I guess that sums it up good. Hopefully you don't have bad feelings towards the actors involved (especially Mandy Moore), because you wouldn't be able to like or enjoy the movie otherwise. But Martin Freeman and Moore do have a special chemistry and it works for the purpose of the movie. It's not that you will be cheering at the screen (I'm assuming here), but you will like them.If that is not enough, maybe the decent comedy in place will please you. The theme is an adult one, which although there is not that much going on (explicit wise), the movie is rated R in America. In Germany and other European countries this probably looks different, because it is tame by their standards. A heads up to what you may expect.

I really enjoyed this film. It has some very funny moments including a great scene with Melissa George and another brilliant set piece with Mandy Moore. As far as romcoms go, I thought this had something to say about modern relationships and I certainly related to the idea of a stale marriage! Good performances from Freeman and Moore and a scene stealing cameo from Angus Deayton. Overall, this is very watchable.Compared to some of the bad romcoms we get fed from America, this stands out as an original, fresh, funny movie and does what it says on the tin... Entertains for 90 minutes... And it's British too! Hooray for British film!

Oh dear. Yet another failed attempt to do a 'Four Weddings'. Take a selection of 'hilarious' middle-class characters, throw in a bit of sexual experimentation, some London landmarks and a barrage of romantic clichés, and you have the formula for this soggy mass of mediocrity. The script is banal, the characters unappealing, and the hodge-podge of nationalities baffling (would you believe English, American, Canadian, Australian, Indian and Eurasian characters all together in anything except the Olympics?). Martin Freeman plays a remarkably unsympathetic character, and has little to do except pull his usual variety of faces. The problem with the British film industry is that it's only possible to get funding for this sort of gloop, or for gangster films.