Cinema Review: Cemetery Junction

Written by Paul Cryer Friday, 23 April 2010 00:00

Director: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Written By: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Ralph Fiennes, Christian Cooke, Felicity Jones, Tom Hughes, Jack Doolan
Rated: 15
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Released: 14th April 2010

Synopsis: In 1970s England, three blue-collar friends spend their days joking, drinking, fighting and chasing girls. Freddie (Christian Cooke) wants to leave their working-class world but cool, charismatic Bruce (Tom Hughes) and lovable loser Snork (Jack Doolan) are happy with life the way it is. When Freddie gets a new job as a door-to-door salesman and bumps into his old school sweetheart Julie (Felicity Jones), the gang are forced to make choices that will change their lives for ever.

Review: Cemetery Junction is the first foray into the movie world for the combination team of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Gervais, having previously and not very successfully flown solo, re-teams with his The Office and Extras pal to bring us this tale of working class suburbia as 3 friends attempt to grow up and find their roles in life. Can they recapture the things that set these comedies up high, both the laughs and the emotional ties to their characters?

The answer for me was, most definitely. We start off with the typical shenanigans of three young lads, drinking, mucking around, fighting. While Snork and Bruce are happy to just muddle away with life, despite Bruce continually saying he is going to leave, Freddie wants to make something of his, so gets employment as a door to door life insurance salesman.He is employed by Mr Kendrick (Fiennes) who once lived in Cemetery Junction, despised the place and got out, something Freddie aspires to. He is teamed up with Mike (Matthew Goode) during his training, Kendricks right hand man and also someone he aspires to be like. As he tries to work his way into the company and into the eyes of Mr Kendrick, Snork continues to not know when to shut up and Bruce continues to get into fights. It all changes however when Freddie bumps into his ex childhood sweetheart, Julie (the fantastically sweet Felicity Jones), who just happens to be dating Mike and be Mr Kendricks daughter. However, she is a bit more of a wild flower than the two stuffy men and awakens something in Freddie that forces his to re-evaluate his life's goals.

It is a typical Gervais/Merchant story. Lovable losers, some charm, some emotional ties, characters you love to hate and the comedy they come up with. While they had 2 series to make you care about Tim & Dawn, they have 90 minutes to make you care about Freddie and Felicity and I think they do it. Cooke plays Freddie with the just the right amount of cool and bravado to make him likeable. It helps that the two friends he has a polar opposites to each other and him, Bruce the James Dean styled angry boy and Snork the buffoon.

From a comedy stand point the scenes that stand out for me are with Snork and his tattoo, I just couldn't stop laughing, especially at the explanation. Freddies family, though incredibly stereotypical, were also funny to watch, Gervais playing up his role well and the interaction between the Dad and Gran was top notch. Emotionally the big stand out scene for me was when Bruce goes home to his father after his night in jail and a few home truths. The scene was perfectly done and really quite touching. I though all the acting was good in the film, Cooke as I've already mentioned, Gervais and especially Emily Watson who steals all the scenes she is in, superbly playing a woman who once had a life and soul and has had it drained out of her, but the spark is still there waiting to come back.

Overall then I really enjoyed Cemetery Junction. It made me laugh, brought a lump to my throat and had everything I like about the Gervais/Merchant writing team.

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