The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle
The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle
| 04 October 2007 (USA)

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SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    Dirtylogy

    It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

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    Brendon Jones

    It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

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    Logan Dodd

    There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

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    Lucia Ayala

    It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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    martin-intercultural

    I adore AbFab, and have enjoyed Jennifer Saunders in just about everything she's done. So I really wanted to like this show. But I can't; it is much too excruciating a spectacle. Perhaps if it had been packaged as raw drama, it might have had its moments of brilliance. But presented as it is as "from the creators of AbFab", and echoing the AbFab narrative in more ways than one, it goes off the rails almost instantly. Simply put, it assumes that because AbFab won accolades for cruel jokes, angry rants and portrayals of addiction, then by extension -- more cruelty, more anger and more addiction will yield the mother of all comedies. It doesn't. "Watching a car crash" is a tired cliché, and yet so apt here: I was drawn in, yes, and at the same time not tickled or intrigued even for a second. Just pulled into masochistic voyeurism of no redeeming qualities.

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    Kalifire

    This is a really, really good comedy. We tend to live in a culture where if something isn't making us laugh every few seconds, it gets overlooked. Such is the case with this show. The target is the repugnant daytime chat shows that exploit misery and anguish for cheap light entertainment through armchair psychology and stereotypical prejudice. There's a very tangible anger running through this show that elevates it from satire into something very biting and raw.Saunders and Richardson are magnificent, Richardson particularly. Theirs are intelligent performances, superbly delivered. The show is co-written by Tanya Byron, a clinical psychologist and the show itself is largely about the manipulation and exploitation of emotion and vulnerability in the name of greed and media status. Will it make you laugh hysterically for 30 minutes a time? No. Is it designed to do so? No. Is criticism of it for not doing so therefore an epic failure of understanding and appreciation of dark comedic satire? Absolutely.

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    Tilda Le Fay

    I love Vivienne Vyle! Basically I think people is expecting "a new Ab Fab" which is just ridiculous. I mean, I LOVE Ab Fab and bought all the episodes and I'd be the first to scream and cry with happiness if Jen decided to do Ab Fab again, but come on! We can't expect Jen to do the same thing forever! I think it's brilliant of her to do something so different, and not just get stuck in the Ab Fab-y sort of comedy. I watched the pilot of Mirrorball and I'm glad it didn't get picked up. Sure, it was entertaining, but it was also practically the same as Absolutely Fabulous, with the same types of characters. Vivienne Vyle is something completely different and has a darker style of comedy and may therefore not be appreciated by all the Ab Fab fans, but I really loved it! V.V. is not even supposed to be a comedy actually, but a sort of a dark drama containing comedy. It's advertised as a comedy only because Saunders is in it, and therefore people will watch it. I think this show only proofs to us that Jen has several talents ad not just in comedy. She's like an onion! Not that she smells bad and makes people cry, but she has layers. Terrific layers. Either you only love her for her hilarious ones, or you can appreciate her for her deeper sides as well, as I do.Hurrah for VV!

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    hesketh27

    This so called comedy is probably one of the unfunniest that I have ever had the misfortune to watch. For a start off it is years too late to parody trash talk shows. Anyone going to do it should have done it years ago when they were relatively new. Secondly, it seemed to rely on the use of obscene language throughout to try and get laughs. Absolutely Fabulous was a genuinely funny classic piece of TV, but is this puerile nonsense the level that Jennifer Saunders has sunk to? Similarly Miranda Richardson, what on earth was she thinking taking part in this garbage? There wasn't a single thing in the half hour that even made me smile let alone laugh. How on earth it was ever commissioned is beyond comprehension. Truly, truly awful and definitely not worth watching again.

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