Alicia I love this movie so much

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Robert_Woodward I watched the DVD of this film hot on the heels of catching Poliakoff's similarly excellent 'Capturing Mary.'Here the range of sets and costumes are more lavish still with Damian Lewis and Jodhi May in the lead roles traversing a multitude of outfits and hairstyles as the story traverses three decades of British working life, capturing the ebbing and flowing spirits of the age in two evidently archetypal characters, both of whom are nonetheless developed in a rounded and sympathetic way and thus come across as real individuals.The supporting cast is also exceptionally strong, portraying a breadth of distinctive characters who each help to paint in details of this era, from politicians whose personal lives brim with potential scandal to gifted children who grow up without channelling their promise in any direction.I look forward eagerly to seeing more of Poliakoff's work.

paul2001sw-1 Stephen Polliakoff's films are always interesting, even when they're not actually very good, because Polliakoff himself is interested in things that few other contemporary writers and directors are: time (he likes to tell his stories slowly) and space (they unwind in beautiful and unusual places). Unfortuantly, the specific content is often less interesting than the way that he explores it: the world he paints is aesthetically delightful, but sometimes doesn't resemble the real world very closely; 'Friends and Crocodiles', for example, is not his only film about a rich man surrounding himself with eccentric friends, in a way that seems more necessary for the purpose of the drama, than it does plausible. And this particular film is also let down by some clunky expositional dialogue (for example, when the heroine gets a new job, someone feels the need to explain that her new firm is "one of the country's largest companies"), a paper-thin satire of modern business practices, and the lack of chemistry between her character and her millionaire patron. Alan Rickman, who played a similar millionaire in his earlier film "Close My Eyes", had the charisma to pull the role off; Damian Lewis, by contrast, is flat in this movie. One weakness of both stories in the Polliakoff's tendency to centre his dramas on false (or at least, irrelevant) dichotomies, particularly that between new technology and aristocratic artifacts; but both his worlds are unreal, gorgeous and belong to the moneyed elite; I find it hard to draw any meaningful lessons from their pseudo-conflict. I suppose you don't watch Polliakoff for pure social realism, rather for the imagery as striking as shafts of light. But light has to illuminate something: in this film, it's not that clear what that something is supposed to be.

mike-musterd-2 I watched this movie as it was aired on Dutch television and was intrigued from the beginning.The movie starts off at a place that makes me hum "garden party" from Marillion, and is set beautifully. Then, she-bang, the reality of hard life kicks in and we see the formerly millionaire (Paul) been given a job out of pity by his former employee (Lizzie). Obviously, we are suddenly several years ahead ?!?? a few more of such jumps and we see Lizzie being in the board of management but seemingly without an actual vote. Her being the only woman there must account for that, I guess. Finally the dot-com bubble bursts and Paul is once again wealthy and Lizzie is not.I liked the believable acting, the beautiful shots and the insight in 20+ years of Brit-life. The downside is that the characters don't seem to develop, and that the plot is not really believable. Overall though, this movie is one of the better movies I've seen this year.

conniea1-1 I enjoyed Friends and Crocodiles and strongly suggest viewing it more than once. More nuances are then perceptible which fleshes out the story line that otherwise is convoluted and can be confusing. Both Paul and Lizzie demonstrate an extreme level of self control, although each of a different nature and each exhibited in vastly different ways. Lewis and May are exceptionally well suited for those two roles and do an excellent job of keeping the viewer focused on their personalities and the theme, rather than have attention wander off on other characters or subplots. The interplay between the two of them can easily be viewed as signifying human interaction in areas other than the business world.