Tlisted here are echoes of Carnage and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on this satire of north London liberals. It’s an authentic script however has the staginess of a filmed play, set nearly totally in a single location: an enormous fancy home in Hampstead the place two uber-successful {couples} of their 50s are chattering over dinner. I wasn’t completely satisfied by the dialogue; a few of the strains aren’t particularly intelligent or witty provided that it is a bunch of very smart over-achievers. Not sufficient sparks have been flying.
What the film does have going for it’s a terrific efficiency by Shirley Henderson as brittle, nervy Sarah, the proprietor of mentioned fancy Hampstead home, alongside along with her husband Tom (Alan Tudyk). He’s a big-name architect whose newest undertaking is an enormous flop, which has compelled the couple to place the home in the marketplace. They’ve invited their finest mates spherical for one final banquet. There’s Beth (Olivia Williams) and her husband Richard (Rufus Sewell), a flashy, cynical movie star barrister. Beth and Richard carry spherical an undesirable visitor, one other outdated pal referred to as Jessica (Indira Varma), who has simply revealed a bestselling memoir about her footloose wild years. Jessica flirts outrageously with architect Tom, then walks into the backyard and hangs herself.
The place the movie will get into difficulties is that the farce that follows the suicide is generally strained and unfunny. Sarah takes management, deciding that in no way can the police be referred to as and jeopardise the home sale. In Henderson’s sly, slippery efficiency, Sarah’s layers of liberal decency peel away, self-preservation kicking in. As satire, The Hassle With Jessica by no means goes for the jugular: maybe that’s as a result of it’s aimed on the similar folks that it’s about, with insider gags about posh paint firm Farrow & Ball’s pretentious product names and a operating joke a couple of French dessert. These of us who have to Google “clafoutis” is probably not the supposed goal.
The Hassle With Jessica is in UK and Irish cinemas from 5 April.
