When Tony Blair took power, the depressive rainy island suddenly became “cool Britannia”, at least if the British film makers were concerned. And, as such, it became some perfect idyllic setting for romantic comedies like Crush, 2001 film written and directed by John McKay. Its protagonist, played by Andie McDowell, is Kate Scales, headmistress of prestigious private school. She spends all her free time hanging out with two friends who, like her, are very successful at their respective professions – Janine (played by Imelda Staunton) is police detective, while Molly Cartwright (played by Anna Chancellor) is physician. However, all three women share the same problem – despite their professional success they simply can’t find proper man and instead they commiserate over each other’s plight by drinking gin, smoking cigarettes and eating chocolate. Things, however, change when Kate meets Jed Willis (played by Kenny Doughty), young and dashing church organist who is fifteen years her junior and used to be her pupil. Two of them start torrid sex affair that soon evolves into something more committed, much to displeasure of Janine and Molly who find the liaison inappropriate and conspire to end it.
Crush starts decently, as a minor league effort to mimic Four Wedding and a Funeral, British romantic comedy that tried to wrap genre cliches with middle class milieu, bits of progressive values and occasional slip into naughty vocabulary. References to the said film are underlined with presence of Anide MacDowell and Anna Chancellor who had appeared in 1994 hit. Scottish director John McKay, however, lacks the scriptwriting talent of Richard Curtis and directing talent of Mike Newell. To make things even worse, in misguided attempt to make Crush look different, McKay somewhere around half of running time adds plot twist that completely transforms the film from romantic comedy into something much more serious and darker. This is the blow the film never recovers from and any McKay’s attempt to compensate for this drastic shift with lame attempts of humour is doomed from the start. Characters audience is supposed to sympathise with become utterly unlikeable, and same goes for the film itself, making almost two hours of running time unbearable for audience.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
https://youtu.be/6ZU2JZtH1s?si=E4LI4JqVG2Frm-U
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