How sad is this?

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

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

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This wonderful comedy is funnier than any Monty Python film and is such a sensationally successful British comedy that I marvel that it is not spoken of by everyone as a classic of its kind. I only came upon it because I was curious to see something else featuring Justine Waddell, who was so brilliant in WIVES AND DAUGHTERS (1999, see my review). I thus discovered this DVD for sale, I had never heard of the film, and I thought I'd try it. What a surprise! Waddell, who is such a fine dramatic actress, turns out to be a first class and inspired comedienne as well. The film is brilliantly directed, with just the right touch, by Simon Cellan Jones (son of Jim and Maggie). Another pricelessly funny star of the show is a little African girl named Angel Thomas, who is the bemused observer to more crazy goings-on than most children could even dream of. Jonathan Cake is outrageously funny as a spoilt brat Italian football star with an ego bigger than ten playing fields and a perfectly-honed wounded sense of self-pity. The film is made entirely in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north of England, hardly familiar territory for the film industry. I must say, the director chose every angle and every location which could possibly make Newcastle look good, and the town comes out of it all sleek and shining. (I would never have imagined it possible.) A 'positive image of Tyneside' was certainly successfully achieved. However, this magnificent film has been so badly distributed that no one seems to know it was ever made. Looking at IMDb, I see that this film is an English language remake of a Danish film called DEN ENESTE ENE (1999), which was directed by Suzanne Bier, a very well known Danish director. The Danish original seems to be available on DVD only with Norwegian subtitles, good if you are a Norwegian, but if not, not. The English film with Justine Waddell beats Woody Allen at his own game. It is really that good. Why did nobody get behind this film and promote it properly? However, the film is definitely a danger to your heath, since if you watch it, there is a serious danger that you might die laughing.

I'm astonished at the lack of reviews for this delightful film. Also surprised that several recent ones were from the recent TV showing. This shows how poor the films distribution was, and is typical and lamentable for British film. This was a gem of a picture. My wife and I were laughing ourselves fit to burst. The romance was a treat and lightly handled. Roxburgh's Geordie accent was spot on. Who are these alleged critics who have nothing better to do than attack actors for trying to act. Should they all be like the cast of Eastenders and disclaim their lines in their natural voice ? I also think that Jonathan Cake is a great undiscovered comic talent, and was as brilliant as ever. One day he will get his breakthrough role and then we will be treated to his back catalogue of characterisations in forgotten classics like this one.

This film was given the slot following Film 2005 on the BBC last night, a slot which is usually reserved for the more decent efforts. And with my mind still on the excellent King Kong preview in that programme - it looks amazing and opens this Thursday - 'The One and Only' managed to divert my attention away from that.It is a very effective film in it's own way, the jokes, wisecracks and one-liners come thick and fast once everything gets going and I must admit some of the stuff is pretty good. Apart from Richard Roxburgh's Geordie accent slipping into Welsh on occasion and Justine Waddell trying too hard at times for her character to be a bit wacky, everything plays out in a gentle, irreverent manner until an overly soppy ending which I wasn't a huge fan of.There was also reference to Newcastle United's poor transfer policy and tendency to pay over the odds for anything that moves, with "7 million pounds worth of groin strain", 'King of the treatment room' Italian Andrea Buffeloni who's played only 34 minutes since his transfer. Which is currently very relevant considering Albert Luque's pricey transfer in the summer and his subsequent lack of games.All in all, a surprisingly good film which is very funny in parts. 6/10

I saw this film on TV and must confess to having never heard of it before - but i cannot think why! Why wasn't this great little movie given more chance in the box office? Why wasn't it widely distributed???? It was genuinely very very funny. Not only did i find myself laughing out loud the whole way through it, but it also had great dialogue, a great story, excellent characters and a fantastic plot. All in all this was a very enjoyable and quite unexpected movie. If you get a chance - watch it! The plot surrounds two couples - one are everyday and unhappy in their relationship. The other are an Italian football star and his kept wife. Couple one adopt an African girl and couple two are trying to have a baby. But then Guy from first couple falls in love with kept wife. A great little side story involves the first guys friend who is an absolute slob who has crazy sex with some woman he happens to meet in late night supermarkets who also happens to be the sister of the footballers wife. There is far far more to it than all this thought! It is a fantastic story and a great comedy. I have to ask again...why didn't this get distributed better in the cinemas???? The distribution/production company were not doing their job!