Do you hear the people sing? Well yes, if you go and see Tom Hooper’s epic adaption of hit musical Les Miserables; but frankly no-one is singing the praises of Dustin Hoffman’s directing debut Quartet and there are a number of angry men. It’s an absolute waste of a wonderfully appealing ensemble cast; with the likes of Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon spectacularly failing to engage with the half-empty plot. It lacked the spark and imagination to lift the storyline beyond the predictable, with whispers of “this better improve…” echoing around the lifeless cinema within minutes. But sadly this flat, cold and unmoving flop consistently bored its audience: thank goodness it was only £3.80 for a ticket at the Reel Cinema.
Maggie Smith is Jean, a former singer who is reunited with three old acquaintances at a retirement home for gifted musicians. Reginald, Wilf and Cissy try to persuade her to join them singing the quartet from Verdi’s Rigoletto in the upcoming gala concert, which opens up emotional wounds for all four.
Hoffman wasn’t on-song with this dry storyline and the cast didn’t perform, with Maggie Smith and Billy Connolly in particular capable of so much better. Tom Courtenay as Reginald Paget proved to be a pleasant and much-needed exception, though, occasionally giving us false hope and making us feel like we were involved with something more substantial and charming than it really was. Hoffman may have won BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Academy awards for his acting but will not be in the mix for any honours for this piece. Instead, he should wobble off to Beecham House and retire himself; after five-minute-long scenes of a car driving down a road and Maggie Smith constantly repeating “I’m now going to say something very rude…” somehow leaching their way into the film. With the average age of the actors being over 70, the film understandably lacked any vitality – but they were still a cast to die for (probably an unwise metaphor). Even the credits were slightly confusing when Dustin Hoffman’s chauffer was acknowledged for his efforts: what a shame he didn’t drive the entire project instead, as we may well have seen a noticeably different (improved) outcome.
It looked and felt like a failed Mike Leigh project; nothing really happened and half of it didn’t seem scripted. Yet there were some fun and appealing moments as if Hoffman was teasing us with glimpses of quality, but to quickly snatch it away and back to the bleak reality. Sheridan Smith performs excellently as the retirement home’s medical director; soprano Gwyneth Jones was terrific and the concluding quartet was sublime: but what a shame the cast are not actually shown singing. Since the whole film leads to the final fundraising performance, we expect far more singing and a more imposing audience. Oddly, after so much trouble was taken to get them all together, the quartet is not shown singing at all; leading to a rather anticlimactic finale.
It was a truly frustrating, harmless and stale debut which lacked depth, tension and drama. YOLO, so don’t go.
Rating: A generous 2 stars.
I didn’t like the look of the trailers for this and didn’t intend to see it. Your damning review has confirmed my preconceptions – thank you Oscar!