Mutual Friends [DVD]

This series did not have any big gimmicks or weird or quirky set-ups, and isn't (thank God) "edgy" in any sense, but it delivered excellent acting, a funny and resonant script, convincing production, and characters that were a joy to watch. I think there should have been more of a fanfare about it when it was on, because every week it was on I really looked forward to seeing the next episode and was sorry when it finished. All the characters were credible and entertaining, and the humour was never unkind or unpleasant. As each scenario unfolds and the plot develops, there are some very funny moments, and some touching ones, but it never exceeds the bounds of credibility, so you stay involved right through to the end. The story is based on the relationships between four main couples, and opens with the revelation, after his funeral, that one of the men was having an affair with one of his friends' wives (Keeley Hawes). This initiates the descent into chaos and apparent failure of the personal and professional life of the main character (Marc Warren), who is attempting to behave like a grown-up. This is in parallel with the continuing chaos and failure of another character's life (Alexander Armstrong) who refuses to grow up at all. The interplay between the two main characters is brilliant as they wind each other up and get in each others' way, but the interplay between all the other characters is just as good, and their comic timing is impeccable. These are Top British TV people, and it was great to see them performing together as characters you could laugh at and the same time as identifying with them and their crises and dilemmas. Very engaging, and very satisfying.

Okay, so I did only really buy this TV series because Alexander Armstrong was in it whom I admire tremendously as one of the most (if not THE most) talented and greatest all round entertainer of today. I’d not really seen any of his ‘film’ work and so got curious. Not liking modern comedies at all really, but this was an hour long each episode which also intrigued me a little, being used to the good old half hour stuff from the last century. (I did also purchase ‘Beast’ for the same reason – will review that when I’ve watched it)The very first episode I was pleasantly surprised, as there were several moments and scenes that had me in absolute stitches and really thought this is going to be good which really shocked me – but I thought at the time it was perhaps too good to be true – and it was, as really it was downhill all the way after these few magic moments with the remaining five episodes... It’s as if for me all the good humour and really fun stuff was used up in that very first episode to get you ‘hooked’ on the show. I carried on through till the last, merely to see how it would end – but it was a struggle to keep watching and I was really glad when it was over as it had become quite boring and silly to follow... The series is left pretty much open-ended, and so I am guessing that this show was perhaps a ‘flop’, and that a second season had initially been intended?I don’t usually watch extras on DVDs either, as for the most part they’re pretty much a waste of time and predominantly just a gimmicky selling feature for re-issues mainly, but did so here; again to see what Alex had to say. I was rather surprised, because in these types of things, it’s usually the guys who are like little boys and being silly, but here surprisingly it was the girls I thought that let the side down by behaving really stupid, and the boys were quite sensible for the most part.All in all, not very impressed, and I expect Alex may distance himself from doing such stuff in the future, but I will probably keep it in my library and watch it again at some time in the future to see if it grows on me or I change my mind about it – but I doubt it...Now to the ‘BEAST’ – which I do hope is a little better than this!!?

This is purely a personal review as I'm fully aware that there is a large audience in the UK for deeply depressing drama, with the odd giggle here and there. The acting, I will say straight away, is excellent and the writing is really good (the words are in the right place and everything), hence the two stars.It was very cheap DVD to buy and I hoped (with this cast) that it might be a quiet gem of comedy. As in... I would 'Laugh' during it, because it made me do that. I did see the subject matter before I bought, but I hoped that the series would rip the comedy of life's deeper problems. I was wrong and the only 'comedy' I could see was in the silliness in Alexander's character. His character is the usual twitish, talented, well moneyed, useless, waster, who bumbles endless on, without any real risk of anything bad occuring to him and, even if it did, it wouldn't matter as the charcter is so ridiculously crass and dense that he wouldn't notice anyway. Endearing... in a grating type of way.For me at least, I'm getting a tad hacked off buying uk made 'comedy series' on the strength of reviews and really hoping they're going to be actually laugh out loud FUNNY, only to find a tour de force in the art of all things miserable, with a slapstick character thrown in. I wonder who said "Eureka! I've got it! We'll do a 'wet yerself' hilarious story about a bloke topping himself under a train, after he screwed his best friend's wife! Then we can have the best mate find out about the affair and the wife will blame the husband for it happening! He'll accept full responsibility for his wife shagging around, because otherwise he never sees the kids again and he will be emotionally and financially destroyed as we romp along our highway to hilarity). The plebs will laugh hysterically as they watch the daft sod sink to a pit of the blackest despair and then drag his sorry self out, by trying to repair the damage he didn't cause, to a relationship he doesn't want, with a wife he doesn't trust... and all this whilst the rest of the cast (hilariously) gets in his way at every possible opportunity!... nailed on WINNER!"There's a sub plot about the deceased's secret life behind his own wife's back that helps the gaity along, but it never gets in the way of the near to hand Ritalin bottle.Bottom!, Mr Bean, Men Behaving Badly, Blackadder, The Young Ones, The Office, Reggie Perrin, The Thick of It, Black Books, Rab C Nesbitt ... I spend a LOT of time with repeats on TV Gold and OLD DVD's nowadays.