Wow ... this is gonna be one of those movies that is rather divisive ... you either love it or hate it ...

Well I certainly won't disagree with that, though hate is maybe a little extreme. I just thought it was a terribly hackneyed plot which had a few humorous moments and some clever shots.

It felt like the anti-Consequences of Love, badly constructed and edited, a plot full of predictable moments and very one dimensional characters, everything pushed to the max without even the tiniest attempt at subtlety. I could take the randomness of the initial sequence, in fact that was by far the best part of the film but overall, the film lacked the cohesian and smartness of CoL. 

Other problems include a cast of totally unlikable characters, the only one I felt for was the girl sunbathing by the tree. The soundtrack which is one thing I wasn't too happy with in CoL was even worse this time, the theme at the start was a strange choice but did fit the demeanor of the film, the rest of it though was totally obtrusive, the dramatic "Elgar's Cello Concerto" thrown in at random moments, and even worse, overlayed with electronic bips and beeps.

Oh .... and I can't forget one of my pet hates, C+W music and line dancing.

Wheras CoL was beautifully paced, edited, performed and intriguing, The Family Friend feels like a clumpy mess strung together by a director trying far, far too hard.

It's strange how things play out, a few days ago I mentioned how few people walk out during screenings in the Chapter LINK, it is after all an arthouse theatre and people generally expect to see challenging and at times, disturbing films. During Battle in Heaven there were no walk outs, during the three hour Into Great Silence (which apparently had around 80% early exits when screened in London), again no walk outs and that can be said for the huge majority of screenings.

The Family Friend had an initial audience of twelve, by the time the credits rolled, four were left, and one of those was an elderly man who needed staff assistance to get into and out of the theatre............... nuff said 

Yet another film that hengcs and I will have to agree to disagree on, though it's usually cheesy feelgood films that divide our opinion.

Cheers Trev.