Wonderful performances and great production design are on display here, but there's something missing that really prevents it from being great. The first half is pretty exhilarating, and it's fascinating watching the odd friendship between Charles (Matthew Goode) and Sebastian (Ben Whishaw) develop and quickly deteriorate with the introduction of Sebastian's sister Julia (Hayley Atwell). All of the actors have solid chemistry with one another and their relationship struggles are believable and intriguing. But somewhere around the halfway mark it begins to drag, presenting the viewer with many false endings and some rather annoying story elements. It finally leads to an ending that really isn't that satisfying - after all the buildup, it feels rather anticlimactic. As I said before, the performances are definitely not at fault. Best are Goode, Atwell and Emma Thompson, who is fantastic in a supporting role as Sebastian and Julia's overprotective mother. The direction is decent enough, but I thought Jarrod did better with last summer's period piece Becoming Jane, to be honest. This is a good film, but its lengthly running time and rather mediocre second half prevent it from being a great one. B-

While I absolutely loved director Julian Jarrold's previous two films (Kinky Boots and Becoming Jane, I merely respected his new work Brideshead Revisited.

Whether this has to do with the source material, I have no idea, since I neither read the original Waugh novel, nor saw the fabled British miniseries. However, I cannot help but enjoy the rich pudding of family, wealth, religion, and power strained through the cloth of post-WWI England. We are so accustomed to tales such as this, embued with a modern consciousness, to either be more matter of fact and unencumbered with the more obvious guilt, or accompanied by much more garish melodrama. Nope - - this ship set it's prow nobly towards the mother land and never varied course. The acting was solid, but necessarily glacial, and the cinematography and art direction were exquisite; I expected no less.

Worth seeing for those who can dissolve into the classic British historical drama and reform out the other side...

4 out of 5.

I feel pretty much the same as Thompsoncory does with one major exception. Great first half, great performances, mixed second half, disapointing ending. But for some reason I didn't like Emma Thompson in this. I was thoroughly enjoying this film until she showed up and the film all but ground to a halt for me. Normally im a fan of hers but here I just couldn't stop laughing everytime she was on screen and it really diminished my enjoyment of the movie. I know her character is vital to the foundation as to why the kids act the way they do. But I would've been happy to have her character cut from the film entirely or at least trimmed down to a throw away part. For me she greatly diminished a film that could've been really great.


Grade B-/C+

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED - 7/10 ( B )

A very good movie. Loved the sets. Matthew Goode was very good, and really sexy .

A damn good movie, nothing spectacular but quite well done. The directing is very successful and the flashback fade out story telling is well done and feeds the movie a lot. The material gets a bit dense at certain parts, and the longer pieces were Emma Thompson and Ben Wishaw are rather dull which illuminated on just how much the film needs the talent of these two actors, other than that it really is a fascinating and entertaining, albeit somewhat flawed movie.
8/10
oh and I definitely think there is value for those who are not fans of the genre

D+


Beautiful sets and costumes. The era visually very well captured. And that's about it. The film is extremely dull. The characters range from unlikable to simply uninteresting. The plot is really not engaging and neither the cast nor the screenplay manage to make me care at all about these characters' fates. Too bad since I think that Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell and Ben Whishaw are generally promising performers - just not in this film.

It can really only score on the visual level. Other than that I kinda compare it to a similarly dull and empty period piece - House of Mirth. There's not a single emotionally powerful moment in this which is a shame given that the story actually offers enough material for many of these moments.

It is especially disappointing since I enjoyed Julian Jarrod's previous period piece, Becoming Jane.

I love it. A successful adaptation with fantastic performances and beautiful costumes and sets. Hits the right notes from beginning to end.