I'm still reeling from the shock of Nearest and Dearest suggesting a midweek trip to the cinema so in honour of this momentous occasion I feel duty bound to report on this unexpected treat!

Having heard that Tamara Drewe was a comedy featuring a bunch of writers at a Dorset retreat parodying Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd, N & D thought that this would be "right up my street!" and so it would have been if the writers had made even a half decent job of it, but alas no!

Oh we had the Gabriel Oak character in the shape of hunky Andy Cobb who continually lapsed in and out of the Dorset accent, the dashing sergeant Troy transposed into the monosyllabic rock star Ben and in my opinion, stood in need of a good wash and for taciturn Farmer Boldwood read Nicholas Hardiment, a third age lecher who wouldn't recognise a wellie boot if it kicked him in the haystacks.

As for Bathsheba Everdene, Tamara Drewe was her modern update, but unlike her nineteenth century counter part, she showed none of the agonising conscience strikes suffered by Hardy's heroine.  In fact, Tamara, made a pretty good job of portraying a typical modern young woman as being, vain, self-centred, hedonistic and hell bent on gratifying every hormonal whim at any one's expense.

In short, Tamara and her cronies were little more than a bunch of shallow, self-centred, egotistical self servers with about as much moral fortitude as a clutch of rutting rabbits!   

I'm sorry to say, sex is what Tamara Drew is really about, bonking and bed hopping, (N & D's words not mine, but couldn't have put it better myself!).  Forget the Hardy connection, no more than a selling point and the so-called humour ... ha ... ha... I'd heard it all before!  Remember Harry Enfield's Waynetta and her "brown baby?"  I kid you not, it was there, slightly twisted and unfortunately one of the better laughs.

The pity is, Tamara Drew could have been a really good movie.  There was a plethora of issues to explore, the conflict between town and country for one, the stale relationship of the long married, bored youth in a comatose village and even no hope authors chasing impossible dreams!

Unfortunately the characters remained what they had originally been created as, comic strip stereotypes.  I couldn't really empathise with any of them and as the plot wore on and became more and more improbable, I kept thinking about all the good stuff which has appeared on Writelink and similar sites and wondering why the heck the Film Council is supporting rubbish like this?

I have an awful suspicion that a fat arts grant has been awarded to some yuppie marketing company who has concluded that most cinema goers are under thirty, suffer from raging hormones and have a penchant for reading matter slightly above the Beano!

What was really so galling was the idea behind the film was superb!  It represented a real chance to show off our beautiful countryside, our quirky humour and the issues affecting the ordinary men and women who actually live and work in rural areas.   

Oh well, enough carping, if N & D sees this it will probably be the last time he suggests a mid-week jolly!