Film starts off on New Years Eve 1982 with a collegiate musical troupe giving their final bad performance. It cuts to 1992 where one of them named Peter (Stephen Fry) invites the whole group to his remote English castle for a New Years Eve party. We have the Andersons--Roger (Hugh Laurie) and Mary (Imelda Staunton). They've lost a child and she lives in fear that they'll lose the other. Then there's Maggie (Emma Thompson) who's madly in love with Peter. There's Sarah (Alphonsia Emmanuel) a sexually active woman who brings along her man of the moment (Tony Slattery). And there's Andrew (Kenneth Branagh) who's unhappily married to TV star Carol (Rita Rudner).

This was called a rip off of "The Big Chill". It is, but it's well-made with a great cast, a wonderful script and is totally involving. This is one of the few movies that mixes drama and laughs and both work beautifully. It was also shot (I believe) on location in England and the setting itself is just incredible. All the acting is good across the board. Rudner is a delight (and has the best lines). Emmanuel sometimes overdoes her role but not enough to damage the film. Dramatic, witty, warm--basically a great comedy drama well worth catching.

"Did you ever see "Upstairs Downstairs"?"

In 1982, six college friends perform a review in front of a bored audience. Ten years later, they reunite for New Years weekend after Peter Morton (Stephen Fry) inherits the family country manor. Andrew Benson (Kenneth Branagh) is a Hollywood writer married to successful American actress Carol (Rita Rudner). Mary (Imelda Staunton) and Roger Charleston (Hugh Laurie) are married jingle writers. Maggie Chester (Emma Thompson) is a single cat lady and publisher. Sarah Johnson is a fashion designer coming with married Brian.

The easy comparison is The Big Chill. Branagh brings together his friends and colleagues. Rita Rudner doesn't seem right as an acting diva. I'm surprised that Branagh couldn't get a bigger name for the role. A California blonde would be much better for the contrast. The characters are obvious and broadly drawn. Once the characters are presented, the story doesn't really go too far. There was a fresh energy about The Big Chill but this goes over like a cold rainy English day. The great cast does keep the interest high throughout.

PETER'S FRIENDS has a lot to like. Some of the performances and vignettes are very good and it's impossible to say that the film isn't touching. At the same time, however, I also found myself thinking that perhaps the film makers tried too hard--putting too many conflicts, too many complicated back stories and, unfortunately, too many clichés to make this a must-see picture. It was a case of all the wonderful parts adding up to an okay whole but not a lot more.

The film begins by showing a group of six college chums doing some sort of review show for an audience of not terribly appreciative people. We did not get to see the show--perhaps they were terrible--we just don't know. However, these six friends are all very excited afterwords and they pose for a picture and talk about how they'll all be best friends forever.

Now suddenly it's a decade later. The six eternal friends have drifted a bit--all having their own lives and maintaining only incidental contacts. Out of the blue, Peter (Stephen Fry) contacts them all--inviting them to his huge family mansion to celebrate the New Year. All six can make it and two of them invite significant others. Unfortunately, some of the six are incredibly shallow, unlikable and easy to read because they are a tad clichéd--representing more archetypes than believable people. One is a nympho who commits to relationships way too quickly and as a result is lonely and rather pathetic. She brings her latest lover--who seems like a boorish jerk. One has married a shallow Hollywood actress and is desperately unhappy with all his wealth and happiness. His wife is annoying and well,...annoying. One is lonely and a spinster--or at least she will be if she doesn't do something about her life. And, finally, two of them married and their marriage is in trouble following the death of one of their kids. Frankly, the only ones that didn't seem unreal were the grieving couple and I really wish there'd been much more time in the film devoted to them. They were compelling and believable.

An additional problem with the film is that all these people had very complicated lives--enough to make a mini-series instead of a full-length film. Because it was all crammed in so tightly and there were almost magical resolutions or at least realizations on this poignant weekend that it all seemed artificial. Now there were gobs of interesting moments--but with so many, many, many such moments you wonder if there are six friends anywhere with that much going on at one time! Too much from start to finish helped sink this British incarnation of THE BIG CHILL to the level of a time-passer.