Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
These Foolish Things (2006)
Director: Julia Taylor-Stanley
Movie review
From Time Out London
This appalling Merchant Ivory-lite romance about an aspiring young actress in ‘30s London comes across like ‘Bullets over Broadway’ for the ITV2 generation. The main problem is that when the film lurches into one of its many narrative cul-de-sacs, writer/director Taylor-Stanley simply adds more characters, never allowing enough time to acquire emotional inroads with any of them.The sloppy period design consists of a bunch of jazz-handing extras with cigarette holders stuck in their mouths while the studied ’30s mannerisms feel like they’ve been cut and pasted straight from Wikipedia.
An ill-matched cast sees television drama ex-pats trade naff one-liners with the likes of Lauren Bacall, Joss Ackland and Anjelica Huston, whose appearance adds little pedigree to what amounts to a monotonous chain of formulaic romantic clichés. And the less said of Terence Stamp’s horrifying impersonation of John Gielgud’s silver-tongued valet in ‘Arthur’ the better.
Author: David Jenkins
Time Out London Issue 1855: March 8-15 2006
Cast & crew
Director: Julia Taylor-Stanley
Producer: Julia Taylor-Stanley, Paul Sarony
Cast: Joss Ackland, Lauren Bacall, Anjelica Huston, Andrew Lincoln, Terence Stamp, Haydn Gwynne, Zoe Trapper, David Leon, Leo Bill, Mark Umbers, Joanna David, Roy Dotrice, Julia McKenzie, Nickolas Grace full cast
Duration: 104 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now