Tamara Drewe Review

Tamara Drewe concerns the titular Tamara (Arterton), who returns to the sleepy country village of her youth to sell her recently deceased mother’s home. She encounters a number of old acquaintances, such as best-selling author and serial love rat Nicholas Hardiment (Allam), his beleaguered wife Beth (Greig), local hunk Andy (Evans) and troublemaking teens Jody and Casey (Barden and Christie). Tamara also embarks on a romantic relationship with petulant rock star Ben (Cooper), much to Jody and Casey’s jealousy. Romantic entanglements and plenty of fornication ensue and the tangled lives of the villagers take turns for the humorous and, latterly, into darkness.

Despite her character’s monopoly on the film’s title, Arterton stars in what is very much an ensemble piece, In fact, Drewe herself is perhaps the most forgettable character in the film, outshone thoroughly by Greig, Evans, Barden and Christie – the latter two often threaten to steal the film entirely and are the source of much of the much of the film’s humour. That’s not to say Arterton does a bad job – far from it. Building on her impressive performance in The Disappearance of Alice Creed (one of the year’s most underrated films), Arterton is charming as the lead character, but is unfortunately underused.

Tamara Drewe is a very likable and very funny romp that rises above the average British rom-com due to its clever literary and self-referential allusions on authorship and writing and its third act plunge into dark territory. A highly recommended roll in the hay.