Themes: Unrequited Love, Death of a Child, Actor's Life
Main Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Phyllida Law, Rita Rudner, Imelda Staunton
Release Year: 1992
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 102 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This comedy drama, a sort of British version of The Big Chill (1983), was directed by Kenneth Branagh. Ten years after they were members of a music and comedy troupe at Cambridge University, a diverse group of friends in their early 30s gather at the expansive estate of Peter Morton (Stephen Fry), who's invited them there for a reunion. Among the guests are Andrew (Branagh), who has married Carol (Rita Rudner), the star of the American situation comedy he writes; lonely Maggie (Emma Thompson), who thinks she may be in love with Peter; Roger (Hugh Laurie) and Mary (Imelda Staunton), a couple in advertising who have lost a child; and single Sarah (Alphonsia Emmanuel), who's always attracted to the wrong men, including her latest boyfriend, the married Brian (Tony Slattery). Also on hand is Vera (Phyllida Law, the real-life mother of Thompson), a housekeeper who has protectively watched over Peter since childhood. Over the course of the weekend, various jealousies and fears are revealed between joyous feasts, but a startling, tragic announcement from Peter puts everyone's petty dramas into proper perspective. American stand-up comedienne Rudner wrote the screenplay with her husband, (Martin Bergmann). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
Peter's Friends is a good little film that desperately wants to be a very good film but can't help falling short of that goal. Although it is frequently criticized for being a knock-off of The Big Chill, Peter's really has little in common with it other than the idea of a reunion of a group of old friends. In tone, Peter's is quite different than Chill: freer, looser, and wackier, although it still has its more serious moments. Unfortunately, it doesn't always mix the comic and the serious as well as it might, and Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman's screenplay also traffics in a few too many clichés for comfort, especially toward the end. Still, it does have many genuinely funny moments and more than its fair share of amusing lines and bits. Kenneth Branagh's direction is a bit uneven in spots, but he certainly knows how to get the most out of his ensemble (with the exception of Rudner, who at times seems to be performing in a different movie altogether). Best among the rest are Emma Thompson, whom one wants to simply wrap one's arms around and hug, and Stephen Fry, who is wryly cynical yet still warm. If Peter's is not a great film, it still provides a great deal of entertainment. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Tony Slattery - Brian; Alex Scott - Paul; Richard Briers - Peter's Father; Magdelena Buznea - Catsitter; Hetta Charnley - Woman at Airport; Annie Davies - Brenda-Babysitter; Edward Jewesbury - Peter's Solicitor; Alex Lowe; Bill Parfitt - Ben-Age 1; Chris Pickles - Chauffer; Nicola Wright - Brian's Wife
Credit
Daivd Toguri - Choreography, Martin Bergman - Co-producer, Stephanie Collie - Costume Designer, Susan Coates - Costume Designer, Kenneth Branagh - Director, Andrew Marcus - Editor, Stephen Evans - Executive Producer, David Parfitt - Line Producer, Peter Frampton - Makeup, Martin Childs - Production Designer, Tim Harvey - Production Designer, Roger Lanser - Cinematographer, Kenneth Branagh - Producer, David Parfitt - Producer, Rita Rudner - Screenwriter, Martin Bergman - Screenwriter, Jacques Offenbach - Featured Music
It's New Year's weekend and the friends of Peter (Fry) gather at his newly inherited country house. 10 years ago, they all acted together in a Cambridge University student comedy troupe, but it's less clear how much they have in common now.
Peter's friends are Andrew (Branagh), now a writer in Hollywood; married jingle writers Roger (Laurie) and Mary (Staunton); glamorous costume designer Sarah (Emmanuel); and eccentric Maggie (Thompson), who works in publishing. Cast in sharp relief to the university chums are Carol (Rudner), the American TV star wife of Andrew; and loutish Brian (Slattery), Sarah's very recently acquired lover. Law plays Peter's disapproving housekeeper, Vera; and Lowe, her son Paul. Briers appears in a cameo role as Peter's father.
Although the film is primarily a comedy, serious overtones are present from the beginning. Peter's father has died, and Peter plans to sell the house after this last party. While Andrew and Carol's troubled marriage is played mainly for laughs, Roger and Mary are recovering from a devastating personal tragedy only slowly revealed to the audience. A lonely Maggie arrives determined to persuade Peter they should be more than just friends and Sarah's not as happy with her life as she appears.
The film deals with themes of friendship, marriage, fidelity, materialism, and coping with death and loss. It has often been described as a British The Big Chill.
The soundtrack did not, however, feature the cast's rendition of the Jerome Kern standard "The Way You Look Tonight," as performed in the film.
Cast notes
Most of the cast are actually old university friends who attended Cambridge University together. Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, and Tony Slattery were all in the Cambridge Footlights, a student comedy troupe similar to the one portrayed in the film. Co-writer Martin Bergman (husband of co-writer/star Rita Rudner) was also in Footlights.
At the time the film was made, Branagh was married to Thompson, who had also dated Laurie while at university. Phyllida Law is Thompson's mother and along with Richard Briers, Imelda Staunton and Alex Lowe appeared with Branagh and Thompson in Branagh's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing the following year. Laurie and Staunton, who play the married Roger and Mary, would again appear as a married couple in 1995's Sense and Sensibility, penned by Thompson. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry also starred in many television shows together, notably A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster.
Stephen Fry, Tony Slattery and Phyllida Law later appeared together in the ITV series Kingdom.
