Friday, January 04, 2019

TV review - "A Very British Scandal" (2017) ****

A triumph for Hugh Grant, who gives one of his best performances - and I hope the acclaim encourages him to keep trying parts like this. He's showing his age, but still has the charm and skill as the leader of the Liberal Party in England who wound up accused of murder - I'd never heard of this scandal but it's bizarre. It feels all too real - the romance with a young man, the paranoia that comes after they break up, the upper class English twit belief that he'd get away with murder. Because that's what this series pretty much spells out - he tried to kill him.

Ben Whishaw is also superb as the young drifter who is fairly hopeless - he beds various men and women, has a kid but is a terrible father, can't hold down a job, yet seems to inspire loyalty in friends and love in Grant.

The two lead characters are rich and complex. The support parts are pretty good too - it's very well written and doesn't outstay its welcome and everyone acts so ridiculously it feels extremely true.

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