British small-town life goes digital
8/10
Author: rroberto18 from United States
1 October 2010

"Tamara Drewe" could be this year's "Sideways" sleeper with a British accent and wider demographic appeal. Key to the story arc is a pair of digitally-savvy teens with a crush on an oddly-charismatic indie band drummer. His eye is on a "suddenly attractive" blogger-journalist, wooed as well by a hunk-of-all-trades and a serially-unfaithful middle-aged novelist whose forgiving wife quietly orchestrates his success. The action is set on the couple's small organic animal farm which doubles as a writer's retreat for true characters at a loss to create any on a page.

The plot easily accommodates a love pentangle, social networking, domestic strife, celebrity culture and teen rebellion while staying true to its droll heart. Far from Hollywood's romantic/bromantic comedies, the humor here comes from dry wit and subtle class friction, instead of gross punch lines and pratfalls. What bathroom humor there is here actually requires a water-closet. The relatively unknown, multi-generational and perfect-pitch cast creates an unlikely ensemble without a hint of over-acting or scene-stealing.

If the film strove for significance or belly laughs, it would widely miss the mark on both scores. Beautifully shot, invisibly directed and edited, the only thing lacking might be a snappier title for non-British audiences. But true to its source material -- the Posy Simmonds-penned, Guardian-run comic strip turned graphic novel of the same name

-- "Tamara Drewe' totally fills the big screen without trying to be anything but its quirky self.