An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)

Dull, drawn out and poorly paced. Nothing happens for the first 95% of the movie, and then everything happens at the end. The conclusion is so swift and left-field it is like you're watching another movie. As such, pacing is ridiculously bad. Title is very inappropriate, as it implies an adventure story or at least a comedy. It is nothing of the sort.Performances are decent though. Good performance by Alan Rickman in the lead role. Hugh Grant plays the bad guy, and does it well. Georgina Cates is OK as Stella.

What a strange title to give a film about some of the ugliest characters you'll ever come across. This film could have been put out by those who felt for centuries that "theater folk" are people to stay FAR away from - their nasty name-calling, their preying on the young, their perversions, their plain meanness - can't be rubbed away as easily as the darkness drawn by any numbered make-up. Whew, what an ugly UGLY group of people. I shivered. You'll want a bath after this one. The acting, sets, costumes were first rate - particularly Nicola Pagett, Hugh Grant, Alun Armstrong, Peter Firth, and the girl playing the lead (whose name now escapes me). It was wonderful to see Pagett in a film again (she was superb not only in Upstairs Downstairs but as the greatest Anna Karenina yet seen in the 10 hour series). I was also pleased to see Rita Tushingham in too small a part as the aunt. If you like watching bullies gather together in playgrounds to attack, kick, and tear apart the clothes, confidence, limbs and self-esteem of the smallest and youngest, you may however find this appealing. For me, this is one of the darkest and most depressing films I've ever seen.

The likely reason people don't like this film is because it was released by Miramax who are infamous for mis-marketing their tough sell pictures ("Muriel's Wedding" was a feel good, laugh a minute romantic comedy? "Captives" was a thriller!). This movie isn't a sweet coming of age story. It's a devastating account of a young woman's loss of innocence in a cruel world.I tend to really like the movies most people find too depressing. Like the ancient Greeks I find human tragedy the greatest form of emotional catharsis. If you are the same way I recommend this film highly.

Even as a genre (black humor), this movie comes off with only two stars. Incest is never funny, is I guess my reasoning. Also, the film is confusing. It may take several viewings to fully understand and appreciate the action. A note: I've seen it on tape and on cable TV, and for some reason, every time, the sound has been so bad, much of the dialogue is unintelligible.In spite of all that, if you have any interest at all in any member of the cast, or in postwar British theater, or just in the theater in general, you should see it.Basically every performance in this movie is brilliant, especially Alan Rickman, Peter Firth, Georgina Cates and, my favorite actor, Hugh Grant.This film is a must see for anyone who thinks Mr. Grant is a "wooden" actor, or always plays a "hesitant Englishman" (A ridiculous charge made by people who have seen only a fraction of his acting output).