
This is a comedy drama about four guys trying to save their local pub from closing down. The group writes a chick lit, or more specifically a "mummy porn" novel, in the style of "Fifty Shades of Grey", and it gets snapped up. The only snag, is that the publisher insists that the young female "author" does press and publicity. The guys have to keep their involvement a secret, and so engage an out of work actress to "role play" the part of the author. This leads to her becoming... (Full plot summary below)
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This is a comedy drama about four guys trying to save their local pub from closing down. The group writes a chick lit, or more specifically a "mummy porn" novel, in the style of "Fifty Shades of Grey", and it gets snapped up. The only snag, is that the publisher insists that the young female "author" does press and publicity. The guys have to keep their involvement a secret, and so engage an out of work actress to "role play" the part of the author. This leads to her becoming the star in the movie of the book. The tables are turned on the guys, and she is in control, leaving them with the awful prospect of having to secretly churn out sex novels for the foreseeable future.
Leave your thoughts about ChickLit.
| Radio TimesDavid ParkinsonA resistible chauvinism colours the jokes about female reading habits and, even though the middle-class gents have the tables turned on them, this always feels a touch parochial and smug. |
| Independent (UK)Geoffrey MacnabWe get little sense of what the four authors are actually writing about other than that their prose is very purple. |
| GuardianPeter BradshawAll the cultural references are weirdly strained and off-target. |
| MovieMailMike McCahillThe comedy amounts to a succession of duff innuendos, often lost in the erratic sound mix, occasionally botched altogether by supporting players apparently sourced from Britten's bridge club. |
| Times (UK)Kevin MaherChickLit will possibly be remembered as the moment when the low-budget Britcom genre hit bottom. |
| User ReviewHoward TA warm, witty and genuinely funny movie that punches well above its weight in terms of script, performances and production values. Thoroughly entertaining and thoroughly recommended! Its as though the broadsheet critics went to see a different movie... |
| User ReviewRangan RMission save the pub! Well, we always look for something new in cinemas. 90 per cent of all films are based on the same old contents. This was a little different, yet I won't say it was pure new. I enjoyed it, thought better than hundreds of boring films I've seen in the last few months. Surely it does not make sense in the real world. From the entertainment perspective, it delivered, but in the British style. It had wonderful characters and cast. That little girl from 'Golden Compass' all grown up. This is an adult comedy, but nothing was obscene. Quite nicely written story. Four friends who everyday meet in the pub is now trying to save it from closing down. So they have to raise money and they come up with an idea of writing a novel, but want to stay anonymous. That's where a young woman enters that changes the fate of the book, the pub and theirs. Not probably, but surely an under-rated film of the year. As well as under-noticed. If you can watch mindless Hollywood comedies, then it is much better than them in many ways. All you have to do is give it a try. Only disappointment was the end. I did not expect it to end just like that. I anticipated emotional conclusion. That would have changed the overall aspect of the film. Still very much a watchable film, so go for it. 8/10 |