Good concept, poorly executed.

Best movie ever!

As Good As It Gets

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I only watched this for Keira and boy she didn't disappoint. She looks incredible in this and you knew right from the first minute what a star she would become. Beauty like Keira's is so rare, you just have to acknowledge and enjoy it while it lasts. However, i had to laugh when Keiras time was up and they replaced her with someone as ugly as Emily Mortimer! Were they drunk when they came up with that bit of casting? What a joke. I actually stopped watching 2 minutes into Mortimers stint i was that appalled.

British to its backbone this mini is entertaining even if the goings on are a bit cliché. The settings are the beautiful especially the main house of Nancherrow. Chock full of extraordinary actors, Peter O'Toole, Joanna Lumley and Susan Hampshire just for starters, in support where this suffers is in the main roles. The actress playing Loveday is unmemorable but that can be ignored. The real problem is Emily Mortimer, it isn't even all her fault for she is a decent actress but having someone with as much charisma as Keira Knightley play the character as a young girl and than switching to someone who doesn't hold the screen in the same way for the bulk of the story is bound to cause a something of a letdown.

With Knightly and O'Tool as the leads, this film had good possibilities, and with McCallum as the bad guy after Knightly, maybe some tension. But they threw it all away on silly evening frill and then later on with maudlin war remnants. It was of course totally superficial, beautiful English country and seaside or not.The number one mistake was dumping Knightly so early on in the film, when she could easily have played someone a couple of years older, instead of choosing someone ten years older to play the part. They missed all the chances to have great conflict among the cast, and instead stupidly pulled at the easy and low-cost heartstring elements.

Okay, you have:Penelope Keith as Miss Herringbone-Tweed, B.B.E. (Backbone of England.) She's killed off in the first scene - that's right, folks; this show has no backbone!Peter O'Toole as Ol' Colonel Cricket from The First War and now the emblazered Lord of the Manor.Joanna Lumley as the ensweatered Lady of the Manor, 20 years younger than the colonel and 20 years past her own prime but still glamourous (Brit spelling, not mine) enough to have a toy-boy on the side. It's alright, they have Col. Cricket's full knowledge and consent (they guy even comes 'round for Christmas!) Still, she's considerate of the colonel enough to have said toy-boy her own age (what a gal!)David McCallum as said toy-boy, equally as pointlessly glamourous as his squeeze. Pilcher couldn't come up with any cover for him within the story, so she gave him a hush-hush job at the Circus.and finally:Susan Hampshire as Miss Polonia Teacups, Venerable Headmistress of the Venerable Girls' Boarding-School, serving tea in her office with a dash of deep, poignant advice for life in the outside world just before graduation. Her best bit of advice: "I've only been to Nancherrow (the local Stately Home of England) once. I thought it was very beautiful but, somehow, not part of the real world." Well, we can't say they didn't warn us.Ah, Susan - time was, your character would have been running the whole show. They don't write 'em like that any more. Our loss, not yours.So - with a cast and setting like this, you have the re-makings of "Brideshead Revisited," right?Wrong! They took these 1-dimensional supporting roles because they paid so well. After all, acting is one of the oldest temp-jobs there is (YOU name another!)First warning sign: lots and lots of backlighting. They get around it by shooting outdoors - "hey, it's just the sunlight!"Second warning sign: Leading Lady cries a lot. When not crying, her eyes are moist. That's the law of romance novels: Leading Lady is "dewy-eyed."Henceforth, Leading Lady shall be known as L.L.Third warning sign: L.L. actually has stars in her eyes when she's in love. Still, I'll give Emily Mortimer an award just for having to act with that spotlight in her eyes (I wonder . did they use contacts?)And lastly, fourth warning sign: no on-screen female character is "Mrs." She's either "Miss" or "Lady."When all was said and done, I still couldn't tell you who was pursuing whom and why. I couldn't even tell you what was said and done.To sum up: they all live through World War II without anything happening to them at all.OK, at the end, L.L. finds she's lost her parents to the Japanese prison camps and baby sis comes home catatonic. Meanwhile (there's always a "meanwhile,") some young guy L.L. had a crush on (when, I don't know) comes home from some wartime tough spot and is found living on the street by Lady of the Manor (must be some street if SHE's going to find him there.) Both war casualties are whisked away to recover at Nancherrow (SOMEBODY has to be "whisked away" SOMEWHERE in these romance stories!)Great drama.