Life Less Literary

Last night’s rehearsal ended fairly early, and Gill had given me instructions not to arrive home while she was putting the kids to bed, so I wandered down to the Showroom to see whether there was anything interesting on.

Turned out there was nothing I’d been dying to see, but there was Stage Beauty which I’d heard both good and indifferent reviews of. I went in. Glad I did.

For the first half-hour or so I found it moderately enjoyable, though spoiled a bit by the driving Afro-Celt Sound System-esque music which came on at full force as Maria ran through the streets of 1660 London.

But as the film progressed there were moments of brilliance, with some great acting and some hilarious jokes (many of them very, very subtle. Others anything but). And Rupert Everett’s Charles II emerging rosy-cheeked from his bedroom after a blowjob from Nell Gwyn was absolutely perfefct. The Hollywood-style happy ending detracted slightly, but overall it was a really good film (no doubt made better by the large glass of wine I drank while waiting for it to start), 4/5.