As Good As It Gets

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

A reasonably high mark yet a derogatory opening statement? You must think I'm confused. Well, I'll explain later...This sitcom features two misfit flatmates who live in 69 Paradise Passage in Kentish Town (no sexual innuendo has gone unturned, lol). They are Lynda La Hughes (Kathy Burke), an unnatractive woman that has seemingly gone through every emotionally messed up experience going, has a very odd family with delusions of beauty and Tom Farrell (James Dreyfus) a homosexual struggling 'actor' who, despite only getting parts advertising sushi, has delusions of being a star.The show is about two people with inflated egos who wear denial as a protective shield around them and blaming everybody but themselves for their lot in life. The two housemates scream abuse at each other yet at the same time comfort when their insecurities do rise to the surface. The story here is about the destructive elements of dependence and how it keeps people from progressing forward as positive human beings.As well as seeing Lynda and Tom, we also meet neighbours Jez and Suze who seem to be the template of a typical happy couple that regularly flaunt their love for each other. Jez provides Tom and Lynda with enough lust and trivial competition to distract them from their mundane lives. Living above is Beryl the matter-of-fact old landlady and prostitute who lives above. The biggest part of the show is the two housemates inability to find love. La Hughes lives in a fairytale land thinking she is the 'ginger Jerry Hall' while Farrell day-dreams about sitting on a park bench with Simon Shepherd (lead actor in Peak Practice). The difference between the two is that Farrell does have brief relationships during the three series (most notably the man he accidentally picks up on a night out and the Rick Cheesecloth who advertises sofas) as La Hughes is usually unsuccessful (with exception to a possible lesbian fling with a taxi driver). To both Lynda and Tom, any relationship is a deliverance from the hell they both have created together, probably not realising they could easily create the same type of hell with their future love interests.The show in itself isn't rocket science but part of it's success is it's ability to be subversive and to change our attitude towards the lead roles which usually waver between downright disgust and pity (almost comparable to Harold and Albert Steptoe but done on a less sympathetic level). There are two problems with the show, the first one oddly being it's strength which are the lead roles themselves. Burke is well accustomed to playing masculine roles and Dreyfus is well accustomed to playing feminine roles and I wonder whether Lynda and Tom are merely a one-dimensional double act. The second is the lack of quality in the endings to some of the episodes (most notably the one where they presume Beryl is dead in a coffin but it turns out to be her twin sister - terrible).Dreyfus comes out better of the two as he is versatile enough to use his voice in lots of different ways (i.e the Cockney way he handles Freddy Windrush for example and his Northern 'chuck it in canal' monologue in the last ever episode is hilarious! Burke's portrayal of La Hughes tends to wear thin. Her joke is less complex and so needs to be stretched a lot more as a result.The final episode is pretty straight-forward apart from the incredibly sad ending. Tom leaves Lynda to play a bell-boy in Crossroads while Lynda is finally confronted with her demons and takes off her ginger wig to reveal a bald scalp before putting a tea cosy on her head and left to suck her thumb on her bed. Her 'security blanket' has left her and she finally has to face the truth that she isn't what she has taught herself to believe all this time.Now, coming back to the original line of my review. Why not a fourth series? Well...To start with it was impractical because both stars had upcoming commitments but, from an audience's viewpoint, a fourth series would expose the show's weaknesses and make it a more diluted affair (like watching any exhausted 'Carry on' film after 1970). Instead of being affected by their outbursts we would merely get bored and desensitised by them.

Well I think the person that left the comment saying gimme gimme gimme is crap needs their heads read. I hardly would put the cast in the same category as Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks. While the two are amazing, it's like comparing chalk and cheese.Kathy Burke is a hugely talented comedy actress. She's awesome at what she does and I don't think this Australian bozo has any right to slag her and her co-stars off.I would like to see the comment-leaver do better.It's obvious that he/she couldn't, otherwise they would find something better to do than sit on their a r s e at the computer complaining.

Gimme Gimme Gimme is a show about a gay man and a straight woman who live together in Kentish Town in London. While it doesn't sound like much on paper, it really works because it is, as Linda would say, VILE! But it's the kind of vile that works. The funny kind of vile.Kathy Burke plays Linda LaHughes, a heavy-set tart with frizzy red hair and glasses. To put it in the words of a character in the 2nd series, she looks like 'a cross between Chris Evans and Olive from On the Buses.' She is sex-obsessed, vulgar and probably the most disgusting British character ever created, excepting maybe Fat B****** in Austin Powers 2. She gets the best lines, though most of them make you cringe. An example would be 'He can stick his hand up my skirt and make my lips move...if you know what I mean!' about a ventroloquist. She is always talking about her days in borstal and her oddball family, such as 'My auntie Vi was a cyclops...or auntie eye as we used to call her.' James Dreyfus plays Tom Farrell, an extremely camp self-obsessed gay actor who *suprisingly* can't get work anywhere. He's had his fair share of bad luck, attracts horrible men, such as Rick who hated everyone and sold sofas on cheesy ads, the man who slept with Tom once and wouldn't leave him alone...then of course was one of my favourite episodes when Tom met his idol, Peak Practice star Simon Shepherd. But he firmly believes in people being honest in their sexuality. My favourite Gimme Gimme Gimme quote was when he said 'I like my men to be stong, assertive...not so far back in the closet they're in f*****g Narnia!' This show is so much better than most American comedies such as Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier and so on. Why? Good acting, funny script, and absolutely no limitations. A genius created this. An absolute f*****g genius.

This programme is soooooo funny!! I laugh all the way through all the episodes. The best one ever has got to be the New Year's Eve one when Tom and Linda play Cherades and.....FUNNY!! Ahhhhhh!! It's too funny! And Linda gets that babies computer thing off her dad, and she knocks over the Christmas tree and- well, better stop there I think. But let me just say this is one hell of a funny programme!