Overwiew :Set in the 1930’s, the film centers around a social set known to the press – who follow their every move – as the “Bright Young Things.” Adam (Stephen Campbell Moore, A Good Woman) and his friends are eccentric, wild and entirely shocking to the older generation. Amidst the madness, Adam, who is well connected but totally broke, is desperately trying to get enough money to marry the beautiful Nina (Mortimer). While his attempts to raise cash are constantly thwarted, their friends seem to self-destruct, one-by-one, in an endless search for newer and faster sensations. Finally, when world events out of their control come crashing around them, they are forced to reassess their lives and what they value most.
www.hollywoodreporter.com - : Hollywood Reporter : Adam retreats to the seedy Shepheard's Hotel, run by the reliably generous Lottie Crump (Julia McKenzie), where he performs a piece of legerdemain to win £1,000 from a gullible fellow and promptly telephones Nina that the wedding is back on. more...
D
www.nypost.com - : New York Post : ''Bright Young Things'' is fairly bursting at the seams with talent — Richard E. Grant, Simon Callow and Stockard Channing all have cameos — yet the film belongs to Peter O'Toole, who appears all too briefly in a sublime scene as Nina's dotty, reclusive father. more...
C+
www.filmthreat.com - : Film Threat : The film is a breezy and likable enough entertainment, especially for those of us unfamiliar with Waugh’s original. In his directing debut, Fry does a sound job of recreating the delirious atmosphere of the era. He even convincingly pulls the rug out from under us in the end, despite an unnecessary, overly sentimental denouement. Another rookie, Stephen Campbell Moore (a dead ringer for a young Mark Hamill) makes an impressive leap into films here as well. His role is tricky too, in that he’s the heart of the story and at the same time a pawn like any other. more...
B-
metromix.chicagotribune.com - : Chicago Tribune : The movie is about sinful pleasures and the follies of youth--and it's a ball to watch. Fry, in his writer-directorial debut, achieves a wonderfully light, brisk comic tone. He takes Waugh's tale of the orgiastic excesses of the younger British celebrity social set between World Wars I and II more...
Critic Reviews
